Colt Data Centre Services Breaks Ground on Berlin 1 Data Center, First Phase of 54MW Campus

Colt Data Centre Services (Colt DCS) has begun construction on a new data center in Berlin, Germany, marking the company's return to the German capital after divesting its legacy facilities in the city more than four years ago. The groundbreaking represents an important step in the delivery of critical digital infrastructure for one of Europe's leading data center operators, as demand for capacity in the region continues to outpace supply.

Engineering firm H&MV Engineering, which is delivering a 110 kV gas-insulated switchgear substation as part of the project, confirmed the start of work in a LinkedIn post this week, saying it was proud to celebrate the groundbreaking of Colt DCS' new development in Berlin and describing the milestone as an exciting moment in the delivery of critical infrastructure. The substation will provide the high-voltage power infrastructure needed to support the facility's operations.

Colt originally announced plans for the Berlin 1 and Berlin 2 data centers in April 2025. The two facilities are being constructed on a 9.5-acre site located approximately 10 kilometers east of the German capital and will together provide 54MW of IT capacity. Berlin 1 is scheduled to go live by the end of 2028, with the second phase expected to follow as part of the broader campus buildout.

The Berlin project expands Colt DCS' German footprint beyond Frankfurt, where the company currently operates three data centers with two additional sites under development around the city. Across its portfolio, Colt DCS operates 15 data centers and has roughly a dozen sites under development across the UK, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, with nearly 800MW of capacity in development globally. Founded in 1992 and originally known as City of London Telecom, Colt was acquired by Fidelity Investments in August 2015. The company previously operated legacy facilities in Berlin and Hamburg, but those assets were sold to AtlasEdge in 2021 as part of a larger European portfolio transaction.

The Berlin groundbreaking underscores the sustained momentum in European data center construction, where operators are racing to bring new capacity online to meet demand from cloud providers, enterprises, and artificial intelligence workloads. Colt's decision to re-enter Berlin with a purpose-built campus reflects both the city's growing status as a connectivity and technology hub and the broader scramble among developers to secure powered land and grid connections in key European markets.