LONDON, UK, 15 April 2009 – WSP Group and Telehouse Europe today announced that Telehouse West, a new £80 million state-of-the-art data centre, will transform generated waste heat into energy for the local Docklands community.

The move will see Telehouse Europe mitigate the carbon footprint of its nine-storey, 19,000 square metre facility – Telehouse West in London’s Docklands by exporting waste heat for use in nearby homes and businesses, a move which has received approval from the Greater London Authority.

Telehouse Europe is the first major data centre to gain planning permission in London since stringent sustainability requirements were written into the city’s legislation. One of the reasons for the project’s approval was the range of innovative green schemes Telehouse and the WSP Group, a London-based international sustainability and engineering consultancy, have put into action.

The partnership will see Telehouse West save up to 1,110 tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum and provide up to nine megawatts of power for the local neighbourhood. The energy savings will equate to boiling 3,000 kettles continuously. The disposal of waste heat from cooling systems is one of the most significant sustainability issues associated with data storage. This will be the first time a heat export strategy has been introduced in the UK for this type of data centre facility.

Commenting on the announcement Mr Bob Harris, Technical Services Director of Telehouse Europe, said:

“We are very proud of the new £80 million Telehouse West facility, not only will it offer an innovative way to capture and repurpose waste heat, but the facility will also ease the capacity crunch. We recognise that any attempt to address the lack of space within the data centre industry has to be undertaken with a level of environmental awareness. By making good use of the waste heat from the facility, we can minimise the environmental impact of Telehouse West and provide a valuable resource to the local community.”

Telehouse Europe’s existing data centres in London and Paris were the first purpose-built colocation facilities to gain ISO 14001:2004, the internationally recognised standard for environmental management. Telehouse Operates a robust management framework to deliver continuous improvement in environmental performance – a key issue for the whole data centre industry.

Mr Kieran Rushe of Planning Consultants Dalton Warner Davis said:

“This has been one of the fastest projects of this type of complexity from submission to award. At his Stage 2 planning assessment the Mayor recognised that the Telehouse proposal has the potential to mitigate the proposed development’s contribution to the urban heat island effect and provide impetus for a district heat network in the area. The GLA said that the agreed solution represents the best possible outcome within the specific constraints of the scheme and accords with the objectives of London Plan policy 4A.6.”

Martyn Bishop, Senior Technical Director at WSP Buildings, said:

“Our multi-disciplinary team has worked on a solution which integrates various aspects of the new building to reduce its environmental impact considerably. It demonstrates that taking a holistic view pays dividends.”

WSP Group prepared a detailed environmental impact assessment for the project and worked on the fire, acoustic, security, transport and VT engineering aspects of the project. FM is the Structural Engineer on the project. MACE is the main contractor for the 19,000 m² building, which is due for completion in 2010.

About WSP Group

WSP Group plc is a global design, engineering and management consultancy, specialising in projects for the property, transport and environment sectors. Our 10,000 employees in 35 countries work with clients to create built and natural environments for a sustainable future. www.wspgroup.com

About Telehouse Europe

Telehouse Europe offers data centre facilities and connectivity, providing a secure and resilient platform for mission critical IT systems. Established in 1988, Telehouse became Europe’s first purpose-built neutral colocation provider. Today, the company is at the heart of the Internet and telecommunications infrastructure, serving over 700 major customers worldwide, from small start-ups to multinationals across a wide range of industries. It is a subsidiary of Japanese corporation KDDI, a Global 300 company and, with its sister company Telehouse America, is able to offer a global network covering Europe, America and Asia.

For further information please contact:

WSP Group Press Office, London
T: +44 (020) 7314 4631
E: [email protected]
E: [email protected]

Martyn Bishop
Senior Technical Director
T: +44(0)781 803 6548

Telehouse Europe

Dionne Aiken
Marketing Manager
T: +44 (0)20-7512-4451
E: [email protected]