£8m investment will boost vast Scottish data centre serving three million people

Data centre operator DataVita is boosting Scotland’s internet and cloud computing provision with an £8 million investment.

The firm, part of commercial property company HFD Group, is ramping up capacity at its flagship Fortis data centre in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire.

It has invested millions adding an extra 400 racks to the data centre, taking the facility up to 1,500 square metres of technical space. The expansion also opens up the opportunity to provide a further 3,000 sq m in the future.

Combined with DataVita’s plans to deliver Scotland’s first metro data centre at the vast 177 Bothwell Street office development in Glasgow, the company is delivering an additional 550 racks of capacity in central Scotland.

Danny Quinn, MD of DataVita, in front of the Fortis data facility.

The expansion of Fortis is part of the second phase of the firm’s long-term fit-out of the facility, having completed the first phase in 2017. Fortis is said to be the largest data centre of its kind in Scotland, supporting critical IT services for an estimated three million people across the country.

DataVita took full ownership of the data centre in 2021 and plans to further enhance its green credentials by taking it off-grid, generating its own electricity from wind and battery-powered back-up systems.

The centre uses “free cooling” technology, which harnesses the natural climate to maintain optimum temperatures, instead of energy intensive air conditioning and refrigerant units.

Danny Quinn, managing director of DataVita, said: “The expansion of Fortis is part of our long-term plan for the facility and underlines our commitment to providing the best and most energy efficient data services to private, public, and third sector organisations across Scotland.

“Sustainability is high on the agenda for IT and that has only become even more the case with energy price increases and the recent hot weather. Many companies are now no longer able to accept the cost of running their own data centre services, and the steps we have already taken to use renewable energy and make our facility as efficient as possible has driven more interest in our offering.”

He added: “The additional capacity at Fortis will ensure we can support more organisations with their IT infrastructure, along with our own growth and plans to make the facility even more efficient in the future.”

Earlier this month, sector peer Iomart, the Glasgow-headquartered cloud computing group, kicked off a fresh acquisition spree with the takeover of an IT provider in a deal worth up to £14.5m.

Bosses said the acquisition of Concepta Capital, a holding business for a group of companies that includes the Leeds-based Oriium and Sheffield-based Pavilion IT brands, would add “new complementary solution capabilities and deep technical expertise” to Iomart’s offering.

In June, Iomart said it was having to pass on higher energy costs to customers but was confident businesses would continue to invest in their IT provision despite the economic squeeze.

Releasing full-year results in line with figures flagged in April, the firm said it continued to benefit from a “robust business model” delivering strong levels of recurring revenues, amounting to 93 per cent of group revenues.