Google has unveiled plans to build a brand new data center in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, UK, as part of its ongoing commitment to boost the computing power that underpins many of its products.
The 33-acre site, which Google purchased in October 2020, will be used for digital services including Google Cloud, Search, Maps and Google Workspace, including the company’s free office apps and Gmail.
The investment, which is said to be worth $1 billion (£789 million), is expected to bring many new jobs to the area and help the wider UK economy. Google already employs around 7,000 workers in Britain.
Google’s $1 billion data center will be built in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
Ruth Porat, Alphabet and Google’s CFO, emphasized the critical role of data centers in powering widely used services such as Google Workspace. She added:
“This new data center will help meet the growing demand for our AI and cloud services and bring crucial computing capacity to businesses across the UK, while creating construction and engineering jobs for the local community.”
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak praised the investment, adding: “Foreign investment creates jobs and grows all regions of our economy, and these types of investments will help drive growth over the next decade.”
Google’s commitment to sustainability was also evident in the announcement, with the company claiming to have some of the most efficient data centers in the world.
The company has plans to power all of its data centers and campuses on renewable energy, and has already announced its power purchase agreement for offshore wind in Scotland, which will provide around 100 MW of clean energy.
As construction gets underway, Google has confirmed that the new data center in Hertfordshire will feature external heat recovery and an air-based cooling system, reducing the site’s reliance on water as a natural resource.