Improved Market Outlook For European Data Centres

Improved economic data across the Eurozone combined with renewed interest from corporate occupiers, alongside new Technology, Media, and Telecom (TMT) enquiries, is propelling data centre pipeline growth, according to research from global property advisor CBRE. Across the five key markets of London, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Paris and Madrid 6,300 sq m of data space was leased in Q2 2013 bringing the year to date figure to 15,095 sq m (21.7 megawatts [MW]).

Business confidence has started to strengthen in the Eurozone, with London accounting for 45% of all take up in the last three months as occupiers cite the capital as a strategic business hub. Frankfurt has seen strong market interest with take up 18% higher than at mid-year 2012 and Amsterdam continues to attract attention from data centre occupiers with increased technology demand driving new interest in this market.

Key developments across the Eurozone in the last quarter include the opening of the Volta data centre in London, Digital Realty acquiring a 5.4 acre site in Amsterdam with plans to construct a
15,900 sq m (11.5MW) data centre and Interxion publically announcing their intention to construct a new 6MW facility in Frankfurt.

Andrew Jay, Executive Director, EMEA Data Centres, CBRE, commented:

“We’ve seen a growth in the number of enquiries for data centre space throughout the core European markets during the first half of 2013. We expect to see a corresponding rise in leasing activity over the next six months with supply pipeline indicating that 35,000 sq m could come to market in 2014.”