By james art Durham University is seeking reserved matter approval for a workplace data centre, the cornerstone of the city’s Innovation District masterplan.
The plans have now been validated on Durham County Council’s planning portal for the reserved matter application reference DM/24/02888/RM.
Planning consultant DPP is working on the project alongside Future-tech, SAJ, PRS, Dunelm, Patrick Parsons, Ensphere, Arbux, Clifton Scannell Emerson and NSL.
There is a hybrid consent of around 400,000 sq ft for the wider Aykley Heads project, dating from 2021.
Avison Young was engaged last year by Durham County Council and the University to find a partner to develop the Innovation Quarter, which will also include other assets in the city centre.
What is now being sought is full consent to develop plot D with a data center building, with additional office space, together with associated car and cycle parking and landscaping.
As described in the DPP’s planning statement, the proposed data center will “represent a step change in the university’s supercomputing reputation internationally” and will require an investment of £250m.
As it stands, Durham University’s Advanced Computing Research team currently provides expertise and facilities to support the innovative use of high-performance computing and software to enhance research across the university.
ARC currently has two supercomputers, Bede1 and DiRAC2, on the university’s main campus, but the existing data center is too small to accommodate the next generation of supercomputers.
The DPP said the new center “has the potential to be hugely beneficial not only to the university but also to the city and wider region, placing Durham at the forefront of technological innovation, research and progress”.
Plot D includes land to the south of Salvus House, including land formerly used as a bowling alley, between Plot C to the north-west – where the new County Council office building, Corten House, is now built, and Plot E to the east.
The data center consists of three main blocks: a technical data room area, a “generator yard” (an outer fenced area with two generators and flues) and an office/support/exhibition area.