Instance, together with architects TTSP and Foster+Partners, are part of the design team which received planning consent in October 2024 for a FOAK £750m sustainable urban hyperscale data located in the London Borough of Newham. ‘It will deliver 80 megawatts of IT power by early 2027, and has the flexibility to deliver all workloads, including AI, in a secure, sustainable location just over 500 metres from the London Internet Exchange (LINX). The data centre has the potential to be a heat source for thousands of homes in Newham and will aim to help the Council fulfil its net zero ambitions’ 

The 87m tall data centre is composed of four elements (i) the data centre with server halls, electrical plant and logistics (ii) the plant building with generators, mechanical and electrical plant (iii) linked offices with reception, café and control centre and (iv) the energy centre containing a high voltage substation, transformers and pump room to transfer captured recycled decarbonised heat from the data centre to provide a strategic heat for external network providers.  

The building has a steel structural grid with an expressed triangulated geometry overlaid with a modular range of facade typologies that respond to the functional requirements of the four main elements.  

As part of a circularity strategy for the building’s lifespan Instance carried out studies focussed on future scenarios Future Facility Evolution (FFE).