AtlasEdge is planning to develop two data centers in Manchester, UK.
First reported by PlaceNorthWest, the company has been granted planning permission for two buildings in Salford. This is the first build project DCD is aware of from AtlasEdge since it was formed last year.
Filed in May 2022, AtlasEdge was this week granted planning permission by Salford Council for “the demolition of Broadway House, site clearance works and the development of two data center (Sui Generis) buildings and substation, with associated infrastructure, access, landscaping, servicing, and parking.”
Located at Broadway House on Columbus Way in Salford, the company is aiming to construct two data center buildings, known as SAL02 and SAL03. Each building would have four data halls over two floors; the 1,909 sqm (20,550 sq ft) buildings would total 3,426 sqm (36,900 sq ft) across both floors. The site would include a substation compound.
Part of the site is empty, while the southern site currently houses an unoccupied three-story office building known as Broadway House. SAL02 would be built on the unoccupied north section, while SAL03 would replace the demolished building.
Atlas is working with the engineering firm InfraNorth and the architect company Napper. When the company acquired the site or the terms of the deal are unclear.
Broadway House was built by Orbit Development around 2007, but the external fit-out was never completed and it has never been occupied. A second office building, to be known as Curzon House, was planned on the empty north section of the site, but was never built.
A neighboring building to the southeast is occupied by VMO2 – the recently merged Virgin Media/O2 – and also accommodates a data hub for VMO2 and some colocation operations.
According to a CBRE planning statement, AtlasEdge has identified Salford as a "key location” due to its population size and commercial presence.
The decision notice granting permission notes AtlasEdge must start construction work within three years.
Last year telecoms company Liberty Global and digital infrastructure fund Digital Colony (now DigitalBridge) announced plans to launch AtlasEdge to operate more than 100 Edge data centers across Europe. The deal brought together DigitalBridge’s Edge assets and Liberty Global's real estate portfolio, with several Liberty Global operating companies acting as anchor tenants; Virgin Media in the UK, Sunrise-UPC in Switzerland, and UPC in Poland. Digital Realty has also invested in the company.
In November 2021, Atlas acquired twelve data centers across Europe from Colt Data Centre Services (DCS). 2022 has also seen AtlasEdge acquire a data center in Leeds, UK, and Datacenter One in Germany. Stuttgart-based DC1 offers colocation services out of four facilities in Germany across Stuttgart, Leverkusen, and Dusseldorf.