Atlas Edge data centres given go-ahead 

The digital infrastructure provider has been granted planning permission to build two 37,000 sq ft facilities in Salford. 

Atlas Edge plans to build the data centres on a 2.4-acre site off Colombus Way. They will support Virgin Media’s Data Hub, located within the neighbouring Metroplex building.

The site is currently occupied by the 21,000 sq ft Broadway House, built by Orbit around 15 years ago but never occupied, according to a planning statement by CBRE. 

The other part of the site had planning permission for a 40,000 sq ft office that was never built. 

Each of the Colombus Way data centres will comprise two data halls and the complex will be served by an ancillary energy centre. 

Newcastle-based Napper Architects is advising Atlas Edge on the proposals. 

Data centres are the physical location where data from the internet is both stored and processed and so plays a crucial role in the world wide web experience. 

Elsewhere in Salford, another data centre operator, Equinix, is converting two former industrial units into more than 400,000 sq ft of data centre space at Agecroft Commerce Park.