An unknown data center firm is close to buying a 1 million sq ft (92,900 sqm) office park in Slough, while Yondr has been granted permission for its own data center campus in the town.

Real estate firm AEW is reportedly close to selling a 1 million sq ft office park in Slough, outside London, to a data center firm.

BisNow (via CoStar) reports that AEW is looking to sell the Bath Road Central office campus for around £420 million ($579.5m).

AEW bought the campus from Segro in 2015 for £325 million ($448.4m) in a deal reportedly backed by Australian pension fund AustralianSuper and Japanese investor Norinchukin Bank.

The deal would represent one of the UK's largest office deals since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, though the unnamed data center firm would likely be looking to convert the site into a data center campus.

Elsewhere in Slough, Yondr's plans for a data center in the town were approved this week. The Slough Borough Council planning committee unanimously approved the company’s request to build two data center buildings on the former AkzoNobel paint factory site on Wexham Road. The site is being redeveloped by Panattoni and will include residential housing and commercial space as well as the data centers.

The company is looking to build two three-story buildings with a gross Internal Floor Area of 41,312 square meters (444,680 sq ft). Each building would have 26 generators and rooftop solar panels.

The Slough Express reports that Robert Smith, global head of design at Yondr, said the company is looking to develop a long-term relationship with Slough.

“We want to become and remain an integral part of the community,” he said.

The Slough Observer notes that council planning officers said the committee had “missed their opportunity” to explore more climate options into the data center’s heat recovery systems during the outline planning stage last year.

As well as Yondr, KKR-backed Global Technical Realty and Iron Mountain are planning new data center developments in the town, while China Mobile recently finished phase II expansion on its UK facility in Slough.