Castleforge & Galaxy win consent for Redhill data expansion

Castleforge and Galaxy Data Centres have won planning consent to expand their Redhill data centre campus near London, including a new 15MW facility.

The project is part of a broader expansion at the campus, where the partners have already invested more than GBP £100 million. They now plan a further GBP £200 million investment, taking the gross project value to about GBP £500 million.

Site details

The approved scheme will add a two-storey data centre with four data halls and an office block on the existing 3.1-hectare Foxboro Business Park estate. The site sits just outside London, where operators and investors have been seeking land and power as available capacity tightens.

The development will support a local waste heat recovery initiative. Waste heat from the facility will be reused on site, and the design allows for future export to a neighbouring residential heat network.

Market pressure

The expansion comes as the London data centre market faces growing pressure on supply. London remains Europe’s largest data centre market and the world’s second largest after Northern Virginia. Vacancy has fallen sharply in recent years as demand for colocation space has risen.

Figures cited by the partners show colocation vacancy in London falling from 21.3% in the first quarter of 2021 to 7.4% by the fourth quarter of 2025. They also pointed to estimates showing 302MW of capacity in London’s pipeline, even as development constraints around the capital make new schemes harder to bring forward.

Demand for data centre space around London has been driven by growth in artificial intelligence, cloud computing and hybrid workloads. Operators have also sought sites with reliable power access and strong connectivity to established hubs such as Slough and Docklands.

The Redhill campus currently spans 11,800 square metres across three buildings and serves customers including Fortune 500 businesses in financial services, artificial intelligence and other sectors.

For Castleforge, the scheme adds to a portfolio focused on the built environment. For Galaxy, it reflects the growing role of specialist operators and advisers in a market where access to power, planning and operational expertise is becoming increasingly important. The borough council’s planning committee approved the application.

Executive view

Mike Adcock, Head of Investments, Castleforge, said the approval marked an important step for the project.

“Securing planning consent for our new development at Redhill is a major milestone in our plans to deliver high-quality, sustainable digital infrastructure to one of the world’s most important data centre markets.

Demand for capacity in and around London continues to outpace supply, and this consent enables us to bring forward the additional power and scale required to serve enterprise, hyperscale and edge customers. We are particularly proud of the project’s sustainability credentials, including the potential to export waste heat to local homes, which reflects our commitment to creating places that deliver lasting value for both customers and the surrounding community,” said Adcock.

Paul Leong, Chief Financial Officer and Partner, Galaxy Data Centres, said the approval was central to the partners’ plans for the site.

“This planning consent is a pivotal step in realising the long-term vision we set out when we acquired Redhill alongside Castleforge.

The new facility will significantly expand the capacity available to our customers and ensure Redhill is positioned to meet the evolving needs of edge, hyperscale and enterprise users. We are proud to be delivering a development that combines operational excellence with meaningful sustainability outcomes, and we look forward to bringing the project forward in close collaboration with the local community,” said Leong.

The project has been designed to achieve a BREEAM rating of Very Good and includes low- and zero-carbon technologies. Those features are likely to carry weight in a market where local authorities, communities and customers are paying closer attention to the environmental impact of data centre development.

Redhill’s appeal rests partly on its proximity to London without being in the most constrained central locations. With available land and power around core metropolitan areas under pressure, outer hubs and established campuses have become more attractive to investors looking to expand near major demand centres.

The approval gives Castleforge and Galaxy a route to increase capacity at a campus with operating buildings and existing customers, at a time when operators across Europe are competing for scarce development opportunities.