Data centre approved for Aykley Heads
Durham University has been granted permission to build a 46,000 sq ft data centre on Plot D of the city’s innovation district, allowing the institution to increase its super-computing abilities.
Permission had already been granted for a 36,000 sq ft office block on the site, with the university seeking approval for the amended plans back in October.
Plans show that it will be a three-storey building with associated infrastructure, including an external compound for the transformers and generators.
Planning firm DPP advised on the project, which will require a £250m investment which, the planners say, will put Durham “at the forefront of technological innovation, research and advancement.”
Also on the project team was Turner & Townsend, data centre engineering consultancy Future-Tech, OS Ecology, Dunelm, and civil engineers Patrick Parsons.
The site is currently brownfield land with trees around the edge and through the centre of the plot.
The building itself will be constructed using a hybrid building fit-out design, using a portal frame building for a quick and cost effective build, with timber cladding panels and a green roof over the office block to increase biodiversity.
The external heat rejection equipment will be located on a gantry above the roof.
More information can be found using planning reference DM/24/02829/VOC.
