London to gain 110MW of data centre capacity in 2021

CBRE predicts another record-breaking year in colocation supply and take-up 

415MW of additional data centre capacity is expected go live across the so-called FLAP data centre markets in 2021, according to CBRE’s latest colocation number crunching.

The extra capacity – 100MW more than was added in last year’s record-breaking growth — will take the Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris markets beyond 2000MW of total supply.

CBRE expects 370MW of IT power to be taken up in 2021.

“Better than expected”

In line with ferocious demand for cloud services following the pandemic, cloud giants, or hyperscalers, accounted for 80 percent of new supply signed off in 2020 — a year in which 175MW of additional supply was added.

Before the pandemic struck, CBRE estimated supply take up for 2020 at 197MW, and remarkably, this prediction wasn’t far off in the end. Take up for 2020 finished at 201MW, as appetite for new capacity was offset by Covid-19 related supply and construction delays.

Frankfurt gained an extra 62MW of capacity, with Amsterdam close behind at 57MW. Paris and London trailed at 29 and 26 MW, respectively.

But as CBRE commented in its report — these figures will look “drastically different” in 2021.

London, for instance, is expected to see 110MW of new supply through the year, Frankfurt almost 140MW, Paris 90MW and Amsterdam 70MW.

And these high rates are set to continue.

“We know of operator plans for a further 370MW of new supply in 2022 and more than 440MW for 2023 (a new record),” CBRE wrote.

Challenges

These astonishing figures are bringing more pressures on Europe’s leading markets.

CBRE said London, Amsterdam and Paris all face power accessibility challenges. London is also increasingly contending with challenges surrounding land access. While high land and power prices continue to beset the Amsterdam market.

As a result, second-tier cities are stepping up to reduce the pressures squeezing Europe’s leading data centre hubs. CBRE identified Berlin as a high-growth German market.

“With Frankfurt’s supply remaining in high demand, and the market experiencing land and power constraints, hyperscalers have turned their attention to the city in Germany’s north east,” wrote CBRE.

“Berlin offers one of the first opportunities to see what this growth could look like.”

• Read the full report here.