Data centre could be built on paint factory site

The exact detail of the project's appearance will be decided by a later application

A major data centre on the site of a town's former paint factory could take up to 20 years to build in its entirety.

Equinix wants to use about half of Slough's former AkzoNobel site off Wexham Road for giant warehouses to run a variety of digital services.

But it said the power needed to run them was only likely to be available to it in coming years so it would need to be built in four stages.

Slough councillors will be asked to give the project planning permission at a meeting on Wednesday.

Their authority sold the site to Equinix for £143.75m in 2022 as it sought to cut its massive debt. It had bought it in 2021, initially to use for 1,000 homes.

Equinix said the first stage of the development to build roads and to deliver power to the site could take between a year and three years.

The company is currently only applying for outline planning permission, with the project's layout, scale, appearance and landscaping to be decided later.

Sufficient power to run the later stages of the development might only be available by 2038, the council said.

Part of the former AkzoNobel site is already being used for a data centre development.

A public inquiry that will advise whether a major data centre should be built in another part of Slough was held last month.

Manor Farm Propco Limited wants to use the 20.2-acre (8.2 hectares) green belt site for the data centre, a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), generators and other infrastructure.

The decision regarding its application will be taken by the housing, communities and local government secretary in the coming months.