British telecommunications specialist AQL will expand its data center holdings in Leeds by 57,000 square feet, after acquiring a disused local government building.

According to the Yorkshire Post, the company spent a bit over £500,000 on a seven-floor concrete tower previously owned by the Leeds Council, but it will need a lot of work before it can be filled with servers.

Urban regeneration
AQL was founded in 1998 by Dr Adam Beaumont, a scientist and electrical engineer. It started as a domain name registrar, but soon expanded into wholesale fax, mobile messaging and VoIP services, and more recently colocation.

South Point (aka Ambassador House) will become AQL’s third facility in Leeds, taking its total data center estate to 110,000 square feet.

“What we’re seeing is this accelerated need for data centre space by all of the smart, innovative digital companies that are cropping up in Leeds and the region,” Baumont told the newspaper.

“We’ve got to keep this pipeline available for these customers. Building in Leeds has been a major focus for us.”

Once complete, the building will feature systems to export waste heat out of the data center – French utility giant Veolia is currently building a district heating system in Leeds, with the first stage of the project expected to serve 2,000 flats by 2017.

Taking a derelict building and turning it into an enterprise-class data center might seem like a tall order, but AQL has done it before – its first facility was built inside the historic Salem Church (pictured below), which previously remained empty for a decade.

Today, it hosts the company’s headquarters and a modern events venue with a glass floor that overlooks the server rooms below.

AQL’s second facility is being constructed in a shell of another local government building at Apex Way, and expected to open its doors in March 2015.

“Ex-council buildings, while they don’t look particularly exciting, are largely rectangular buildings and most of what we’re putting in them is rectangular stuff,” Baumont said.

AQL also owns land with planning permission at a former Leeds chemical works site, but is reluctant to undertake such a large project until it sees more demand for its services.