CWCS opens Nottingham data centre to boost capacity

CWCS has opened a new data centre in Beeston, Nottingham, quadrupling its cloud and colocation capacity.

The facility is fully operational and designed to support more than 200 racks at full capacity. It is a Tier 3-aligned site with fibre-optic connectivity throughout.

The opening gives CWCS room to expand its hosting and colocation business as demand grows for providers that offer businesses more direct control over infrastructure. The site is intended to support workloads including high-density servers, GPU servers and artificial intelligence systems.

CWCS, which provides dedicated servers, cloud hosting and colocation services, said the Nottingham expansion is part of a broader growth plan that has also included acquisitions and international projects in recent years.

Colocation is a particular focus for the business. The new facility offers secure rack space, high power availability and round-the-clock access to on-site engineers for customers moving away from on-premises systems or seeking disaster recovery arrangements.

"Opening a new data centre in Nottingham significantly increases our capacity to offer flexible options comprising cloud hosting, dedicated server hosting, and colocation services. Above all, it ensures we can continue to meet the individual needs of our customers, and positions us as a trusted partner for mission-critical data hosting," said Karl Mendez, managing director of CWCS.

Mendez said demand for colocation has strengthened as some organisations reassess cloud spending and seek closer operational relationships with suppliers.

"We're also seeing a major increase in demand for colocation from organisations who want more control, lower cloud costs and a closer relationship with their provider," he said. "Our Nottingham facility gives customers the performance and resilience they need, without losing the human support that sets CWCS apart."

Energy focus

Sustainability was a central part of the design. CWCS used free cooling and hot-aisle containment, targeting a power usage effectiveness, or PUE, of 1.15.

PUE is a common measure of data centre efficiency, comparing total facility energy use with the energy consumed by IT equipment. A lower score indicates less energy wasted on cooling, lighting and other overheads. CWCS noted that the UK industry average is about 1.5.

The Beeston site runs entirely on renewable electricity, with on-site solar panels adding to supply. The building has also achieved an EPC B energy rating, up from its previous E rating.

That matters because energy costs and environmental performance have become more prominent issues for data centre operators and their customers. Operators are under pressure to increase capacity for data-intensive workloads while limiting electricity consumption and emissions.

"Our industry is energy-hungry, so it's imperative we take responsibility for the power we consume," said Mendez. "We are committed to becoming a leader in secure, low-emission hosting, and our new Nottingham site is a big step towards that. Designing to a target PUE of 1.15 is something the team should be genuinely proud of. If we hit that figure, it would place us among the most efficient data centres in the country."

The installation of on-site renewable generation also forms part of the company's carbon goals.

"The installation of solar panels is another example of how we build green goals into our business planning and development, and we remain committed to our target of carbon neutrality by 2030," Mendez said.

Local impact

Beyond the technical expansion, the project also has a local employment element. The investment has created skilled roles for on-site technicians and UK-based support staff, linking the facility to the Nottingham business community and regional supply chains.

Founded in 1999, CWCS operates hosting facilities in Nottingham, London and Manchester. Its sites hold ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 certification, as well as Cyber Essentials accreditation.

For CWCS, the Beeston opening provides more room to grow in cloud hosting and colocation while aiming to keep energy use below typical industry levels.