Stockland Receive Approval for MPark Data Centre

18 June 2021

Stockland have welcomed the State Governments approval for their Data Centre proposal for part of the MPark development on Khartoum Rd, Macquarie Park.

The proposal was considered as a State Significant Development proposal pushed through by the Government ahead of other projects. The project application was first considered in May 2020, leading to development application being lodged and exhibited in late November 2020. Approval was given in May 2021, just 12 months from the initial considerations. The application was however able to be considered in light of an existing planning approval granted to Stockland on the site in late 2019.

The Data Centre Project will consist of a five-storey building up to 45 metres in height and fronting Talavera Road. The centre will provide five data halls (one on each level) each fitted out with data hardware, predominantly in rows of racks. The proposal also contain space for general office use, meeting rooms and amenities. The project is estimated to cost $263m to develop and provide up to 350 – 400 jobs during construction and approximately 50 jobs during operation.

It’s understood the centre will be a hyper-scale facility leased to a major cloud computing provider, believed to be Amazon Web Services.

Data Centres are not known for the environmental credentials as most facilities consume significant power and a large number of back up generators fueled by diesel. The Stockland proposal will consume up to 311,315 MWh per annum, of which 280,320 MWh is attributed to IT equipment, with a total Green House Gas emissions are predicted to be 4,281,000 tonnes CO2 of which 4,240,400 tonnes are attributable to imported grid electricity.

Five underground diesel storage tanks will be installed to provide approximately 360 kL of diesel fuel in total. These diesel storage tanks would supply fuel to 18 x 2400 kW and 1 x 600 kW diesel generators. These generators require regular testing and also thus also contribute to GHG emissions.

Notwithstanding these issues, the facility is capable of achieving at least a 5 Star NABERS Energy rating for Data Centres.

Stockland will rely on sourcing renewable energy supplies to meet their 2028 Net Zero commitments.

Construction of the Data Centre is expected to start in September and be finished by March, 2023. Erarly works have already commenced on the balance of the site which will comprise 3 other buildings, one of which will likely become the new base for Johnson & Johnson who currently occupy an adjoining site which Stockland acquired last year.

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