FLAP markets surpass 2,000MW

The FLAP (Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris) data centre markets – the four largest in Europe - have collectively surpassed 2,000MW of supply for the first time.

This follows a quiet Q2, where only 51MW of new supply came online, but a much larger Q1, when 135MW of supply came online. There is still 256MW of supply scheduled to come online during H2, which will lead to a record year for new supply with 442MW coming online. This is more than double the 202MW seen in the last record year of 2017.

In terms of take-up, the quarter saw just more than half the take-up of Q1, when 92MW came online (a record quarter for take-up).

CBRE expects the second half of the year will see more than 229MW of customer supply come online, leading to a record year for take-up (the last record for take-up was set in 2020 at 201MW).

According to the report, most new supply is being driven by hyperscale cloud deals. A number of providers, in particular those in the retail colocation space, have said they are also seeing increasing interest from enterprise and other customer groups not associated with cloud.

Many enterprises are turning to colocation as they move data centres out of traditional office environments or turn to colocation to gain access to cloud services and connectivity options.

In some markets, opportunities for such customers are becoming increasingly difficult to find with locations such as Frankfurt and Paris experiencing supply constraints. It is unsurprising that these markets will see local records broken for new supply during 2021 (Frankfurt with 167MW and Paris with 87MW). Take-up in these markets will also be at record levels – with Frankfurt expected to see 125MW for the year and Paris 85MW.

CBRE EMEA Data Centre Research Director, Penny-Madsen Jones commented: 

“We are hearing more about new sites coming on specifically to meet enterprise requirements at the same time as a large number of hyperscale-focused sites are being launched.”

“The industry realises the importance of having a healthy ecosystem of cloud providers and cloud end users in a market to maintain the importance of the data centre hub. The balance of supply and demand, as a result, is going to remain incredibly important for these markets moving forward.”

“While we have seen some customers explore new market options outside of FLAP as a result of these challenges, many still have requirement to be inside markets they may be serving.”