European Data Centre Take Up Bucks The Recessionary Trend
Data Centre take-up has risen by 12 per cent year on year across Europe, according to new research from global property advisor CBRE. This rise occurred following a strong final quarter of transactional activity although also acknowledged was that widespread economic uncertainty had resulted in unpredictable demand patterns during the year.
2012 also marked a sharp rise in operator activity. Data centre supply rose by a record 106MW with Amsterdam and London showing the largest increase. In addition, operator consolidation continued unabated enabling expansion into established and new markets for several of the main operators.
Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT) companies have again been at the forefront of new demand and accounted for the majority of space taken. Rapidly increasing Cloud use alongside advances in business and personal technology have been the key drivers to organic growth in this sector with expectation of this continuing for the near future.
In particular, Amsterdam maintained its attractiveness as a strategic hub for these types of businesses, and has recorded data centre take up at a record level for the third consecutive year. Demand in the city shows no sign of weakening at present and CBRE predicts that Amsterdam will continue to play a major role in the evolving global digital economy over the coming year.
The report goes on to remark that London and Paris had also seen improvement in demand. Rising demand in London’s wholesale market was particularly noteworthy where total take up in 2012 was more than double the previous year.
Andrew Jay, Head of Data Centres, EMEA, CBRE, said: “Despite extreme pressures on businesses across Europe as a result of the challenging economic landscape, high quality data services remain integral to a business’ success and this is reflected in the rise in take up across the region. Further interest in Cloud and greater use of technological advances will undoubtedly mean that demand for quality space will hold up in the best locations over the coming year.”
CBRE’s quarterly Data Centre MarketView maps five tier one markets: London, Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam and Madrid.
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