Newport City Council’s planning committee has approved plans for the expansion of the Next Generation Data (NGD) campus in Wales.

The planning permission grants four three-story structures in Marshfield, a town near Newport. The new builds will consist of data halls and office space - increasing the campus capacity to 180MW from its current 72MW, according to the local newspaper, South Wales Argus.

The council also provided permission for the installation of 60 emergency generators, 29 car parking spaces, and a security building.

ngd newport
– NGD

Planning for growth

As previously reported by DCD, the Newport council's planning department received several complaints from residents over the height of the structures, lighting, noise, and parking. However, according to the Argus, councilors said factors were considered and any issues were dealt with in the planning permission's conditions.

Councilor Richard White said: “I have got quite a few concerns about this and it’s based on the experience of residents. The construction hours of working say that it’s seven days a week from 8am-6pm. This strikes me as strange because normally on sites of this nature we would put conditions on Monday to Friday and Saturday mornings only. I feel that this site should have been designed in a better way to accommodate the concerns of the residents on Pencarn Avenue.”

The expansion is being funded with part of a £320m debt financing package from Macquarie Group. NGD was acquired from previous owners by Vantage Data Centers in July 2020, a transaction which was assisted by Macquarie Infrastructure Debt Investment Solutions (MIDIS), a subdivision of the Macquarie Group.

Macquarie provided £73m ($97m) to support Vantage’s acquisition of NGD and its 180MW data center campus expansion.

Tom van Rijsewijk, MD at Macquarie Infrastructure Debt Investment Solutions, said: “Data centers play a key role in supporting the world’s fast-growing digital economy.

“We see a growing role for MIDIS in the sector by partnering with leading sponsors to meet the rising demand for connectivity and exponential data growth expected globally over the years ahead.”

The acquisition of NGD was also funded by equity commitments from Vantage's Digital Colony investors.

Last month, Vantage teamed up with a group led by Colony Capital to aid Vantage’s build-out throughout North America and Europe.

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