A massive new ‘hyperscale’ data centre has been planned on Green Belt land by the M25 motorway in South Buckinghamshire.

Data giant Cyrus One applied to Buckinghamshire Council for planning permission for the 63,000 square metre facility at Iver Heath this week.

The plans come just weeks after the new Labour government promised to ‘unlock’ so called ‘Grey Belt’ land – lower quality Green Belt – for the development of new infrastructure and housing.

This included potentially ‘recovering’ two appeals for refused data centres, including plans for one at Iver’s Woodlands Park landfill site.

Cyrus One said its proposed facility at Iver Heath would ‘re-green’ the section of Green Belt in between Denham Road, Seven Hills Road, and the M25.

The company, which says it can ‘build data centres anywhere’, said the current uses of the land, which is across the road from Pinewood Studios, were ‘unneighbourly’.

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Land there is used for car racing, concrete crushing, and soil sifting, with a large part of the site occupied by haulage firm Shannon Group.

Some of the land is also currently occupied by blockbuster scenery and props firm Living Props, as well as private properties, a flying base for helicopters, and other businesses.

Cyrus One explained that data centres are the physical buildings housing the servers necessary for modern ‘cloud computing’ – storing and accessing data over the internet instead of from computer hard drives.

It said: “Everyday activities like debit and credit card payments, sending emails, booking tickets, receiving text messages, visiting the doctor, using social media, taking part in a ‘zoom’ call and storing our digital photos all involve data centres.”

Its new data centre would include 10 data halls, which will need 90 MW of power, office blocks, two electricity substations and a training centre, which would link with local academic institutions and serve as a base for ‘internships’.

Access to the data centre facility would be from the existing access points on Seven Hills Road, one for entrance and one for exit.

Cyrus One’s planning statement also promises 43,000 square metres of publicly accessible open space, including ponds, trees, walkways and car parking for public use, as well as a new bridleway and pedestrian crossing at Denham Road.

The company says the land, which is ‘negatively impacted’ under some current uses, will be transformed under its plans, which include providing links between areas of ancient woodland and creating wildlife corridors.

The data centre itself will be largely hidden from view by landscaped hills that will curve upwards to the building’s ‘green roof’ and trees around the perimeter which block in the site.

Meanwhile, some 54 bike parking spots will be provided, along with 28 electric vehicle charging spaces, regular parking and ‘end of journey cyclist and jogging facilities’ including a shower and changing area.

The company’s planning statement also promises that all of the electricity required to power the date centre will come from renewable energy sources and that solar panels will be installed at the site.

Its design statement also promises a new ‘biodiversity lake’, an ‘edible landscape’ with fruit trees and shrubs including cobnut, native apples, pear and cherry plum trees.

On top of this, there will be an internal space created within the walls of the buried data centre structure, forming a ‘hidden valley’.

On completion, Cyrus One estimates that the data centre will require 79 directly employed staff on an full-time basis to operate the facility.

It also estimates that more than 800 builders will be needed at the peak of construction and that construction alone will generate a ‘one-time benefit in gross value added’ of £305 million for the London and South East economy.

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