Data center construction company Lasercharm has been granted approval to build on a 40 acre campus in Sutton, Cambridgeshire, creating 65,000 sq m of data halls.

The north Cambridge site will target global enterprises, local ‘silicon fen’ technology giants and SMEs.

A new on-site primary electricity substation will initially offer the new ‘Camro’ site a 33kv 6MVA supply to support the first phase of development, with a total 25MVA contracted provision agreed with UK Power Networks.

Lasercharm said it plans to build the IT infrastructure with ambient air-cooled modular data center units and supply its power from sustainably generated electricity sources.

Options exist for over 50MW of direct renewable and low carbon power, delivered through an adjacent 50 acre site suitable for a solar array or fuel cells.

In addition, an on-site combined heat and power (CHP) energy centre has been given outline planning consent. Another sustainable power option is offered by a biomass power station at Ely.

The site is an hour by car from London and offers a variety of fiber routes into the capital.

It will connect with major fiber networks linking direct to the US and mainland Europe without having to route via the capital, Lasercharm said.

“Camro offers global firms and regional data users the security, power and connectivity needed for an effective data network,” Tim Gwyn-Jones Lasercharm’s CEO, said.

Gwyn-Jones said the firm is in talks with ‘a number’ of major international tech firms about using Camro.

As a location outside London it offers “significant use of free cooling to reduce energy consumption and of course cost” according to Lasercharm.

Local atmospheric conditions are described as ‘a temperate maritime climate’. The low, generally stable temperature and humidity are considered suited to ambient air cooling for data centers, according to ASHRAE (American society of heating, refrigerating and air conditioning engineers) definitions.

Free cooling is typically achievable on average 99.71% of the year, Lasercharm said.

The major focus for customers will be global enterprises.

“It’s a relatively short trip from Heathrow for a tech exec looking to check up on the site,” said a spokesman.

“We will certainly be talking to smaller SMEs and Silicon Fen-style firms. However, it’s the big companies that we’re initially after.”

Cambridge is home to a variety of global technology companies including ARM, Microsoft Research, Napp Pharmaceutical, The Wellcome Trust & Sanger Institute, University of Cambridge and the new global HQ for Astra Zeneca.