Datavita plans Scotland’s first ‘metro’ data centre at 177 Bothwell Street

The installation of the data centre represents £6 million of investment from the company and will be Datavita’s second facility, adding to its acquisition of the Fortis data centre in Lanarkshire during 2021. 

Located within Glasgow’s largest single office building, the 150-rack capacity facility will be Scotland’s first ‘metro’ data centre[1]. It will support occupiers in 177 Bothwell Street along with the wider business community in the city’s International Financial Services District (IFSD) and beyond.

Located next to the BT Exchange, which was the starting place for the internet in Scotland, the data centre will support the tech, financial services, and fintech sectors, along with city centre projects such as the roll-out of 5G and internet of things (IoT) networks.

The new data centre is expected to be operational by Q3 2022.

Danny Quinn, managing director at Datavita, said: “The installation of our new metro data centre at 177 Bothwell Street is a large part of our plan for growth. Having the data centre in the heart of the city will not only support the capabilities of 177 Bothwell Street, but will support the growing demand from telecoms, IoT, and smart city technologies providers for quality data centre services in the heart of Glasgow city centre.”

The addition of the data centre will support 177 Bothwell Street’s ambition to be the most advanced office building in Scotland, enhancing its intelligent building management systems and push for SmartScore certification. The property is also the first development in Scotland to achieve a ‘Platinum’ WiredScore certification, recognising that occupiers will have the best connectivity available.

A large part of 177 Bothwell Street is pre-let to Virgin Money for its new headquarters, while AECOM, BNP Paribas, CBRE, Transport Scotland, and HFD Group – including its flexible serviced offices offering, HFD Offices – will also take space in the building. An independent economic impact assessment concluded that the 313,000 sq. ft. development will generate £2.8 billion of gross value added (GVA) to the Scottish economy over 25 years.

Stephen Lewis, managing director at HFD Property Group, added: “Having a dedicated data centre at 177 Bothwell Street underlines HFD’s commitment to being a full-service property developer, giving our occupiers and the wider city access to the IT infrastructure they need. Occupiers within 177 are able to locate their IT systems in a purpose-built data centre within the building, benefitting from its inherent resilience and energy efficiency. The data centre will also provide the building with the IT infrastructure necessary for the many smart building technologies we are installing to make it operate as efficiently as possible.”

Business Minister Ivan McKee said: “I welcome the significant investment by DataVita in this metro datacentre. Our Green Datacentres and Digital Connectivity: Vision and Action Plan for Scotland outlines our objective of encouraging commercial investment in a portfolio of datacentres across Scotland, from the smallest to the largest facilities, delivering enhanced capacity and supported by a highly skilled workforce in Scotland.

“Located in the heart of the city, this facility will serve Glasgow’s International Financial Services District, together with technology businesses and the development of important innovation programmes including 5G and the Internet of Things.

“This will also support the objectives of Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation to create a more prosperous, more productive and more internationally competitive economy, helping to make Scotland fairer and greener.”