Pure Data Centres to integrate world's largest 'living wall'

Pure Data Centres to integrate world’s largest ‘living wall’

Author: Simon Rowley

Planning permission has been granted in London for the world’s biggest ‘living wall’. Pure Data Centres, backed by funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, will be integrating the wall into the second building on its campus in Brent Cross, North London.

Pure DC’s living wall, being installed by specialist firm Viritopia, will cover an area of 7,400 square metres, making it the largest in the world. The current title is held by The Khalifa Avenue in Qatar, which is 7,000 square metres. The largest living wall on a building is One Assembly in Singapore, which is 5,300 square metres.

Work has already begun on the site, adjacent to Pure DC’s existing London data centre, which will take overall capacity at the London campus to over 90MW, with capacity to expand further – helping to satisfy the increasing demand for cloud services and AI processing.

The living wall will envelop the new structure and will contain more than 750,000 individual plants which will be installed using a modular system. Key functions of the plants are to absorb noise and to help filter out air pollution.

The extensive planting area will also enhance the site’s biodiversity by creating important habitats for birds and insects. It will also provide a protective outer layer to the building, helping to reduce solar gain and improve the microclimate.

Demand for data centres is at an all-time high, especially in London, which accounts for 80% of the UK’s data centre market. The data centre market in the UK is projected to grow by over 60% by 2029.

Dame Dawn Childs, CEO of Pure DC, comments, “The data centre industry is facing a critical challenge of building the digital infrastructure needed to support the demands of global data growth in a way that also takes care of the local environment. Gaining planning permission for the living wall is an exciting step in our effort to meet this challenge head-on.

“Alongside our subsidiary, A Healthier Earth, which plays a significant role in helping us to accelerate nature-positive projects like this, Pure is committed to researching and developing innovative solutions which support long-term biodiversity projects and ensure our data centres make a positive impact in the areas where we work.”

The project is the latest innovation from Pure DC, which develops and operates data centres that incorporate innovative design features to be as sustainable as possible, using modern and innovative building materials and effective decarbonisation processes.

Pure DC conducts Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) on every development to understand its construction and operational carbon footprint. It aims to send zero waste to landfill and remove water usage in operation via closed-loop cooling systems and rainwater harvesting, where possible. Pure has replaced diesel in standby generators with Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) wherever it can be sustainably sourced, reducing CO2 emissions by up to 90% for Scope 1.

Pure DC’s research and development subsidiary, A Healthier Earth, will oversee the construction of the living wall. This climate-tech catalyst develops, delivers, and operates planet-positive projects.

The development of the ‘living’ wall is part of A Healthier Earth’s wider research and development work, through which Pure is placing an emphasis on forward thinking developments and sustainable approaches to decarbonise digital infrastructure.