Datavita to open Scotland’s first metro datacentre in Glasgow during Q3 2022

Scottish datacentre operator Datavita is investing £6m to build a 150-rack capacity server farm in Glasgow’s biggest office space to meet the needs of clients in the city’s International Financial Services District.

The company claims the new build, which is located next to a BT Exchange, will be Scotland’s first metro datacentre. It is expected to be operational by the third quarter of 2022.

The datacentre will be located at 177 Bothwell Street, which is a new office development built with the intention of creating the “most advanced office building” in Scotland by kitting it out with intelligent building management systems.

“The datacentre 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 company said, in a statement.

A large portion of the building has already been pre-let to financial services firm Virgin Money, which will use it as its headquarters, while other prospective tenants will include French international banking firm BNP Paribas, real estate consultancy CBRE and Transport Scotland.

The datacentre will be the second in Datavita’s portfolio once it’s finished, with the company’s managing director, Danny Quinn, hailing the project as a “large part” of the firm’s plans for growth.

“Having the datacentre 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 datacentre services in the heart of Glasgow city centre,” he said.

Stephen Lewis, managing director at HFD Property Group, who oversaw the development of 177 Bothwell Street, said having a datacentre on-site will be a huge asset to the firms who set up shop there.

“Occupiers within 177 are able to locate their IT systems in a purpose-built datacentre within the building, benefitting from its inherent resilience and energy efficiency,” he said. “The datacentre 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 also welcomed the development, which he described as being aligned with the Scottish government’s commitment to encouraging more server farms to set up shop in the country.

“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,” he said.

“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.”