Tech and AI

Piling starts on the 70MW final phase of a North London data centre campus

By Staff Writer  |  5 September 2026

Pure Data Centres has moved the final major build phase of its Brent Cross campus into piling. Glencar is delivering the West Cold Shell while the first building operates and the adjoining shell is fitted out.

Piling has started for the West Shell of the 70MW LON01B2 data centre at Brent Cross in North London. The work opens the final major build phase of Pure Data Centres' £1 billion-plus campus development.

The new phase will extend the campus by more than 23,000 sq m and take its total capacity to 90MW. Completion of the wider B2 facility is scheduled for the second quarter of 2029.

Piling commencement represents an important milestone in the continued development of our Brent Cross campus.

Dan Priest, Campus Delivery Director, Pure DC

Building inside an operating campus

Glencar is delivering the West Cold Shell. Its package covers piling and foundations, underground services, the structural frame and connections to the adjoining East Cold Shell. It also includes concrete and slab works, stair cores, the building envelope and roofing.

The construction setting matters as much as the size. Building 1 remains operational, while fit-out work continues in the East Cold Shell. Pure DC says several construction and fit-out activities will therefore run at the same time across the campus.

That places logistics and sequencing at the centre of delivery. The contractor must connect the new structural works to an adjoining shell while the first building remains in service. Interfaces between piling, frame construction, services, envelope work and fit-out must be coordinated within the same live site.

Capacity for dense computing loads

LON01 is designed as a closed-loop, liquid-cooled data centre for high-density artificial intelligence inference and cloud workloads. Pure DC says the design also uses recycled steel and low-carbon components.

The B2 building is planned to carry a living wall after completion. More than 750,000 plants are expected to wrap around the building beside the Brent Reservoir Site of Special Scientific Interest. The stated purposes are to reduce noise and air pollution and provide habitat for insects and birds.

The current event is narrower than the appointment announced earlier this year. Glencar had already been selected for the package. The change now is physical: piling has commenced, the structural phase is under way, and the programme is being delivered beside operational and fit-out work.

For teams working on live data centre projects, the construction sequence is now stated. The West Shell has entered piling, Building 1 is operating and fit-out continues in the East Cold Shell. Those activities share the campus during the current phase.