Swedish project development and construction group Skanska AB (STO: SKA-B) has been awarded a £53 million (US$70 million) contract to build a data centre facility for UK operator Virtus Data Centres.

The building, to be located in Slough, will be named LONDON11, include six data halls and add 13MW of capacity across 5,500 square metres to Virtus’ portfolio.

The project is set to break ground before the end of 2021 and open to service in the second quarter of 2023.

Neil Cresswell, CEO of Virtus Data Centres said: “The start of building LONDON11 is a significant milestone in a busy year for Virtus.

“Throughout the COVID-19 epidemic our focus on operational excellence has enabled us to provide safe, reliable service to our valued customers, from our five live data centres, whilst also safely bringing two additional new data centres live in the past six months.”

With LONDON11, Virtus footprint is set to reach 178MW and 77,000 square metres including four current sites at the operator’s Stockley Park Campus.

Skanska is a multinational construction and development company based in Stockholm which in 2020 reported revenues of $17.2 billion. The company was founded by Rudolf Fredrik Berg in 1887 and has today more than 33,500 employees.

The company was responsible for the construction of London’s famous 30 St Mary Axe, a 40-stories skyscraper in the City of London opened in 2004.