Tritax Big Box REIT plc has purchased a 74-acre site at Heathrow, London within the Slough Availability Zone, a key FLAP-D prime EMEA data centre location.

Simultaneously, the Company has acquired a 50% share in a joint venture with a leading European renewable and low carbon energy power generator. The JV enables accelerated power delivery to the Manor Farm site using pre-existing grid connection agreements. The acquisition of an interest in the JV constitutes a related party transaction for the purposes of the UK Listing Rules, further details of which are set out below. 

Subject to receiving planning consent, the acquisition of the land and stake in the JV facilitates an accelerated timeline to the potential delivery of up to 147 Megawatts of power to support the development of a major data centre scheme at Manor Farm.  

In addition, Tritax Management LLP, working with the JV partner, has created a further pipeline of potential data centre opportunities in key locations within the UK utilising power availability of c.1 gigawatt.

A prime location for a latest generation data centre of significant scale 

  • The 74-acre Manor Farm site, located within the Slough Availability Zone near Heathrow Airport, is adjacent to key data cable routes providing high levels of connectivity and making it attractive to hyperscaler and co-location operators.
  • The site has the potential for an initial data centre of 107 MW (“Phase 1”) on land currently used for open industrial storage, targeting commencement of construction in H1 2026.
  • The site also offers the potential for further expansion with a possible second phase data centre (“Phase 2”) of 40 MW (both of which are subject to planning) bringing the site’s total potential to 147 MW.
  • Phase 1 is expected to be one of the most advanced data centres in Europe totalling 448,000 sq ft of data halls across three floors.
  • The JV provides the site with grid connections to two independent transmission substations providing exceptional resilience in addition to co-located utility scale battery storage. 

Aubrey Adams, Chairman of Tritax Big Box, said: “This is a decisive and exciting first step for Tritax Big Box in the very attractive data centre market, which Tritax Management has unlocked with its power and real estate capabilities.”