Equinix Secures Planning Approval for Major Data Center Campus on Former Industrial Site in Slough
December 1, 2025
Global colocation giant Equinix has received a crucial planning green light to develop a new data center campus on the site of a former paint factory in Slough, UK. The approval underscores the intense demand for digital infrastructure in one of Europe's most critical data center hubs, where the conversion of brownfield sites is becoming a key strategy to meet capacity needs while optimizing land use.
Slough Borough Council's planning committee granted outline permission for the project last week. The campus will occupy approximately half of the former AkzoNobel factory site off Wexham Road. This initial approval allows Equinix to proceed with developing detailed plans regarding the project's final appearance, scale, and landscaping for further council review.
The development is planned to comprise three buildings, each containing dedicated data halls. Equinix has previously stated the campus could become a "landmark in Slough," reinforcing the town's status as a premier location for data infrastructure. The site has a long industrial history, beginning as a Naylor Brothers paint factory after World War I and later serving AkzoNobel, the global paint manufacturer. Slough Council initially purchased the 38.5-acre site for £38.5 million ($43 million) in 2019 with plans for a mixed-use development. However, due to high projected costs, the council agreed to sell the land in 2022. Council leader James Swindlehurst described the subsequent deal with an unnamed data center developer—later revealed to be Equinix—as "probably the single biggest beneficial transaction I’ve ever seen" for the local authority.
This new campus significantly expands Equinix's already substantial footprint in Slough, where it operates multiple facilities including LD4, LD5, LD6, LD10, and others. The company is also developing a separate 30MW facility, LD14, on Banbury Avenue and recently announced a massive £3.9 billion ($5.2 billion) investment to acquire the DC01UK campus development in Hertfordshire.
The project highlights a broader industry trend of repurposing industrial land for critical digital infrastructure, particularly in supply-constrained markets like the London metro area. Successful redevelopments such as this help alleviate power and land constraints while bringing substantial investment into local economies. For Equinix, the expansion is a strategic move to capture growing demand from enterprises and cloud providers requiring interconnection and scalable capacity in a key connectivity zone.
Source: datacenterdynamics
