Tritax Big Box Advances 125MW Data Center Development in Chelmsford, Essex
June 17, 2026
Tritax Big Box Advances 125MW Data Center Development in Chelmsford, Essex
Tritax Big Box, a British real estate investment trust (REIT) listed on the London Stock Exchange, is progressing plans for a 125MW data center campus in Chelmsford, Essex, signaling a strategic pivot from its traditional focus on distribution centers into the high-growth digital infrastructure sector. The company has entered into a development management agreement with Tritax Management LLP, an affiliate of its parent company, the Tritax Group, to oversee the project from planning through construction.
The proposed campus will be constructed on a greenfield site at Beaulieu Parkway in Beaulieu Park, with a planning application already submitted to Essex County Council. According to the application, the facility will consist of two buildings, each offering 44MW of IT capacity across 33,110 square meters (approximately 356,395 square feet) of data center space. The total capacity of the site is expected to reach 125MW once fully operational.
Under the terms of the agreement, Tritax Management has been appointed to provide development management and technical services, including pursuing planning permissions, overseeing construction, pre-letting services, and managing all power-related elements. The firm will receive an initial payment of £3.3 million ($4.4 million) for work completed to date, with additional future payments tied to achieving key milestones such as securing planning consent.
The move is part of a broader push by Tritax Big Box to expand its data center footprint in the UK. Last week, the UK government granted planning permission for a separate 147MW data center campus west of London near Slough, overriding local objections. This approval underscores the growing governmental support for large-scale digital infrastructure projects, which are seen as critical to the nation's economic competitiveness and digital resilience.
Industry analysts view Tritax's expansion into data centers as a natural evolution for a REIT with deep expertise in large-scale logistics and industrial property. The data center sector offers long-term, inflation-linked lease structures and strong demand driven by cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and enterprise digitalization. By leveraging its existing land holdings and development capabilities, Tritax is positioning itself to capture a share of the rapidly growing UK data center market, which is increasingly constrained by power availability and planning delays.
Source: datacenterdynamics
