KDDI Acquires London Campus with Planning Consent for Major Data Center Expansion

KDDI Reportedly Secures Strategic London Site for Telehouse Data Center Growth March 18, 2026 In a strategic move to bolster its European data center footprint, Japanese telecommunications giant KDDI has reportedly acquired a key property in London's Docklands, signaling continued investment in the capacity-constrained and high-demand UK market. The acquisition underscores the intense competition for developable land in major global hubs, where securing planning permission is often a critical bottleneck for expansion. According to reports from industry publications Green Street News and BisNow, KDDI, the parent company of data center operator Telehouse, has purchased the Republic campus in London's Tower Hamlets borough from joint owners Trilogy Real Estate and LaSalle Investment Management. The transaction is valued at approximately £250 million ($333.8 million). The acquired site, located at 2 Clove Crescent near Telehouse's existing Docklands campus, comprises two office buildings spanning 483,000 square feet. Crucially, the site comes with existing planning consent for a significant data center development. The permission, secured by the previous owners in 2023 after an appeal to a government planning inspector, allows for the construction of a 376,000-square-foot, eight-story data center facility. This planned building could support an IT load of up to 30 megawatts across six halls, each around 12,900 square feet. The sellers had initially marketed the education-focused campus, which hosts over 15,000 students from several institutions, for £247.5 million last October. When contacted for comment, a Telehouse spokesperson stated, "We don't comment on rumour or speculation, and as always, if and when we have something relevant to share, we will do so through the appropriate channels at the right time." Neither KDDI nor the selling parties have made public statements confirming the deal. The potential development represents a logical expansion for Telehouse, a pioneer in Europe's carrier-neutral data center market. Its London North facility, opened in the 1990s, was the continent's first purpose-built center of its kind. The reported acquisition of the Republic site would allow Telehouse to significantly scale its capacity adjacent to its established Docklands hub, which already comprises six buildings. For the London data center market, this move indicates sustained investor confidence and addresses the critical need for new, permitted sites to support growing demand from cloud, AI, and enterprise customers. Source: datacenterdynamics