VIRTUS Data Centers has announced the development of LONDON19, a new facility at the Slough Trading Estate that will deliver 32.5 megawatts of IT load, further extending the company's footprint in what it describes as Europe's largest data center hub.

A New Chapter for the Slough Campus

The announcement marks the latest expansion by VIRTUS, which operates as part of the ST Telemedia Global Data Centers Group. LONDON19 will join an existing UK estate that already comprises over 300 megawatts of operational and committed capacity. The company describes LONDON19 as designed to support growing customer demand for scalable, resilient and AI-ready infrastructure.

Planning permission for the facility has already been secured through the Slough Trading Estate Simplified Planning Zone, a mechanism that provides planning certainty for developments within the estate. SEGRO, the estate's developer and a longstanding partner of VIRTUS, will be responsible for developing the powered shell of the building. Construction is expected to commence shortly after design approval is granted.

The development will include a roof-level plant deck and is being targeted for a BREEAM "Excellent" rating, one of the construction industry's most recognised sustainability benchmarks.

Sustainability Built Into the Design

VIRTUS has placed sustainability at the centers of LONDON19's design brief. The facility will incorporate advanced cooling systems and the use of sustainable construction materials.

Among the more forward-looking provisions is an allowance for the future export of waste heat to benefit the local community, a feature that reflects increasing industry attention to the reuse of thermal byproducts generated by large-scale computing operations.

Adam Eaton, Chief Executive of VIRTUS Data Centers, described the development as embedding sustainability considerations from the outset. "LONDON19 reflects our focus on delivering flexible, future-ready infrastructure that supports the UK's digital economy while minimising environmental impact," he said. Eaton also highlighted the significance of the western corridor location, citing the facility's role in supporting customers seeking capacity in that geography.

VIRTUS has also stated its intention to maintain proactive engagement with the local community as part of its ongoing presence at the Slough Trading Estate, though no specific programmes or initiatives were detailed in the announcement.

A Longstanding Partnership with SEGRO

The LONDON19 development deepens what both companies characterise as a long-standing relationship. SEGRO's Managing Director of Data Centres and Strategic Partnerships, Andrew Pilsworth, noted that the Slough Trading Estate has been at the center of the UK's data centers market for more than two decades.

He cited the scale of infrastructure, power availability and planning certainty established at the estate as key factors enabling operators such as VIRTUS to expand in what he described as a highly constrained environment.

Pilsworth added that the estate's focus on sustainability and engagement with the local community continues to form a central part of its offer to data centre customers.

The partnership between VIRTUS and SEGRO on LONDON19 follows a model in which SEGRO constructs and delivers the powered shell, with VIRTUS responsible for the fit-out and operation of the data center facility within.

Positioning Within a Competitive Market

VIRTUS describes itself as the largest data center provider in the United Kingdom and one of the leading developers and operators in Europe. The company has been operating for over 15 years and positions its facilities as supporting cloud, artificial intelligence, and enterprise workloads across industries.

The wider ST Telemedia Global Data Centers Group, of which VIRTUS forms a part, operates across Singapore, India, Northeast Asia, and Southeast Asia, providing what the company describes as a global platform for digital infrastructure.

In addition to the ST Telemedia relationship, Macquarie Asset Management holds a significant minority stake in VIRTUS through its European infrastructure fund, a financial arrangement the company says supports its continued expansion across the United Kingdom and continental Europe.

The announcement of LONDON19 comes as demand for data center capacity in and around London continues to intensify, driven in particular by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence workloads and cloud computing services.

The Slough Trading Estate has historically served as a primary location for data center development serving the London market, offering proximity to the capital alongside available land and power infrastructure that is increasingly difficult to secure elsewhere in the region.

VIRTUS designs and operates what it describes as high-density and liquid-cooled data centers, technologies that have become increasingly important as the computational intensity of AI-driven workloads drives up power consumption per rack. The company says it maintains the highest standards of safety, security, availability and sustainability across its operations.

United Kingdom's Data Center Pipeline Is Moving Fast. Is Your Intelligence Keeping Up?

Across the United Kingdom, the data center sector is experiencing an unprecedented wave of investment, with hyperscale campuses, colocation facilities, and edge deployments reshaping national infrastructure strategies at a pace few anticipated just five years ago. For developers, contractors, and technology suppliers operating in this space, the margin between winning work and missing it entirely often comes down to how early and how accurately you can read the market.

The Global Project Tracking (GPT) platform by Blackridge Research was built precisely for this challenge, aggregating and structuring project intelligence across the United Kingdom so that your team spends less time hunting for data and more time acting on it. Whether you are monitoring a single submarket or tracking activity across multiple European jurisdictions simultaneously, the platform delivers the depth and consistency your pipeline decisions demand.

From the earliest planning signals through to post-completion records, every stage of a data center project's lifecycle is captured and kept current within the platform, giving your business a reliable foundation for forecasting, business development, and competitive positioning.

• Upcoming Projects

• Tender Notices

• Contract Awards

• Projects Under Construction

• Completed Projects

To see how the Global Project Tracking (GPT) platform by Blackridge Research can support your growth strategy across the United Kingdom data center market, contact our team today and Book a Free Demo.