UK colocation provider Custodian Data Centres said it plans to build a 10MW data centre in Dartford, Kent, southeast of the British capital.

The DA2 facility will operate at a PUE rating of below 1.3 and be powered by 100% dual diverse renewable energy feeds. At full build, the site will host up to 800 racks across 2500 sqm/27,000 sqft of hosting floor.

The company said it will kickstart operations in Q2 2022. A countdown clock on its website points to an official opening event on April 4 or 5.

Rowland Kinch, CEO, Custodian Data Centres, said: “Uptime, digital security and energy efficiency are shaping the business environment.

“As businesses look toward their post-pandemic future and re-draw their digital transformation roadmaps, it’s now a commercial imperative to have a data centre partner that can underpin their growth with agile mission-critical infrastructure.

“At Custodian, we believe that our service-first ethos offers a step-change for the data centre market, and that our new DA2 facility offers a competitive choice for organisations looking to step away from the crowded London Docklands.” 

Custodian’s data centre footprint includes two other facilities outside London in Surrey and Sussex. The company also has a footprint in the City of London and London Docklands, both financial centres.

The operator’s decision to expand outside London’s border mirrors a market shifting pattern of expansion outside the capital and into Tier 2 geographies.

SunGard, Cyxtera, D4 Data Centres, OVH, Indinity SDC and Kao Data are just some of the other local providers who have a built footprint away from central London.

Further away, locations in Milton Keynes, Cardiff, Manchester, Glasgow and Birmingham have been attracting fairly sized investments from operators of the likes of Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX), Vantage Data Centers, CloudHQ and Pure Data Centres.

Historically, Slough, west to Heathrow Airport, has been a hub for heavy development over the years outside London’s borders. Recently, Yondr Group announced a 100MW facility to be built in the region.

According to Arizton, the UK data centre market is currently growing at a CAGR of over 1.86% up until 2026.