Tritax Big Box REIT has acquired a 74-acre site at Heathrow in London from Airport Industrial Property Unit Trust (AIPUT) with a view to delivering one of the largest single data centres in the UK on the site.
Tritax Big Box has also acquired a 50% share in a joint venture with an undisclosed European renewable and low carbon energy power generator, which will accelerate the delivery of power to the Manor Farm site using pre-existing grid connection agreements.
In phase one, Tritax plans to develop a 107MW, 448,000 sq ft data centre on land currently used for open industrial storage at the Manor Farm site, which is located within the Slough Availability Zone near Heathrow Airport. It is targeting commencement of construction in H1 2026 and hopes to complete in H2 2027.
The three-storey data centre, which will be one of the most advanced in Europe, will be developed on a “powered shell” basis, conditional on planning consent and the securing of a pre-let. The site also offers the potential for a a second phase data centre of 40MW, taking the total scheme to 147MW.
Tritax Management and the JV energy partner have also identified a further pipeline of potential data centre opportunities in key locations across the UK utilising power availability of circa 1 GW.
Tritax Big Box has paid an initial consideration of £70m to AIPUT for the Manor Farm site and the company will also receive a further consideration of 21% of the phase one development profits, contingent on the delivery of a practically complete and let data centre.
Aubrey Adams, chairman of Tritax Big Box, said: “This is a decisive and exciting first step for the company in the very attractive data centre market which the manager has unlocked with its power and real estate capabilities. This gives the company a considerable competitive advantage in capturing the growing demand for data centre infrastructure. The combination of Manor Farm’s prime London location and accelerated access to critical grid connection agreements creates the opportunity to develop quickly one of the UK’s largest data centres and deliver exceptional returns for our shareholders.
“Over the past four years, the manager has independently developed and invested in its power capabilities, securing a joint venture arrangement with one of Europe’s largest major renewable and low-carbon energy generators which the company is now acquiring at Manor Farm. This provides accelerated access to power in this prime data centre location, where a lack of power has significantly restricted the development of these nationally critical infrastructure projects.
“Having taken extensive and independent professional advice, the board of Tritax Big Box has successfully negotiated preferential access and terms for this opportunity, which generates exceptional returns and complements our logistics development pipeline. The board has also negotiated a right of first refusal with the manager for all future data centre opportunities with up to circa 1 GW of power capacity.”
