ITS has been chosen as the full fibre infrastructure provider for Deep Green’s flagship data centre, currently under development in Urmston, Greater Manchester.
The data centre, known as DG01, is a ‘lighthouse’ project on Deep Green’s UK roadmap. It will showcase a model combining high-performance compute capabilities with local infrastructure, harnessing heat energy that can be reused for the public good and creates a blueprint for Deep Green’s compact, sustainable data centres nationwide.
DG01 will capture up to 96% of the heat produced by its servers and equipment, using it to warm the swimming pool water in the Move Urmston Leisure Centre next door. It is estimated that this will cut the leisure centre’s carbon dioxide emissions by 150 tonnes each year annually, in turn saving up to £80,000 in energy costs. The waste heat could also be used in the future to benefit other local businesses, industrial processes, and public spaces.
Designed for high density workloads, including high performance compute and AI, DG01 will support hardware (servers and processors) that can draw 400 kW of power within a 240m2 footprint, supporting up to 100 kW per rack.
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ITS’s established full fibre footprint across Urmston will enable the fast delivery of connections linking the data centre to businesses that choose to co-locate there – this regional presence was a key factor in Deep Green’s decision to select ITS as its connectivity partner.
Dave Ferry (pictured), chief sales officer at ITS, said: “DG01 is one of the most innovative data centre blueprints in the UK, and it demands digital infrastructure that can match its ambition. Our network will provide the platform that AI and high-performance computing require, while also being a very exciting addition to our substantial data centre footprint across our national network.
“As we already serve Urmston, we can move quickly to install with minimal disruption. Through DG01, businesses will thrive, advanced workloads will run at full potential, and technology will deliver measurable social and environmental value.”
Mark Lee, CEO of Deep Green, added: “ITS has been engaged with us from the very beginning of the design process, ensuring our objectives were fully understood and building a genuine culture of partnership. As a B2B specialist with a proven network across Greater Manchester and competitively priced services, ITS are committed to go to market alongside us to help deliver this project. Their full fibre infrastructure gives us the speed and reliability our partners and their clients demand. Our mission is to prove that data centres don’t have to cost the earth – in either environmental or financial terms.”
Jo Cherrett, CEO of Trafford Leisure, a community interest company wholly owned by Trafford Council, which manages leisure in Trafford on behalf of the council, said: “Operating some of the most energy-intensive public facilities means we have a responsibility to look for smarter, greener ways to meet our community’s needs. DG01 is a perfect example of how innovation in one sector can transform outcomes in another. Thanks to the robust full fibre infrastructure being delivered by ITS, the data centre will have the always-on connectivity it needs to serve businesses, while its design will capture and reuse heat for our pool and facilities.
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“The reduction in our energy costs and carbon footprint will allow us to reinvest those savings directly into improving services, programmes, and accessibility for local residents. For us, this is a beacon for what sustainable public leisure can look like.”
Founded in 2016 by Mark Bjornsgaard, an entrepreneur with an interest in technology and energy, Deep Green claims to be the only data centre company that builds data centres on-site at community assets, such as public swimming pools or as part of district heating networks, to share the heat from the servers for free. Octopus Energy Generation has made a £500 million investment into Deep Green to help it rapidly scale its groundbreaking technology across the UK. Deep Green’s ambition is to deploy 300MW of compute within the next five years.
