Categories: CloudDatacentre

Exclusive: Arup To Design Apple Data Centre In Ireland

Apple’s proposed Irish data centre will be designed and engineered by Arup, a multinational structural planning and consultancy firm.

Information obtained by TechWeekEurope reveals that Arup, which also offers project management and planning services, will coordinate the County Galway build from its Cork offices.

Arup has previously been behind numerous data centre builds, including Citi Bank’s Frankfurt data centre and HSBC’s Hong Kong Tier IV data centre.

The firm’s Irish division, with offices in Cork, Dublin, Galway and Limerick, has been responsible for the design of buildings such as Dublin Airport’s Terminal 2 and Cork County Hall. In London, the firm provided structural engineering for the London Eye, the Millennium Bridge and the HSBC Tower.

Neither Arup or Apple have responded to TechWeekEurope’s request for comment at the time of publishing.

“State of the art”

The Irish data centre will be one of two new data centres Apple is planning to build in Europe. Another “state of the art facility” is set to be built in Viborg, Denmark. The data centres are designed to store European users’ data and to power its online services, such as the App Store, iCloud, Siri and iMessage across Europe. Apple is spending £1.25bn on the builds.

A mission statement on Arup’s website reads: “Arup in Ireland has been delivering landmark projects since our foundation in 1946, when Ove Arup teamed up with a local architect for the design of the Irish national bus company headquarters in Dublin, which represents outstanding importance in the history of Irish architecture.”

In April, planning application was filed for the 500-acre site in Athenry, County Galway, that includes a single storey data centre building that will be 263,000ft², along with a single-storey “logistics and administration building” which will cover 56,000ft². The site looks to be operational by 2017, creating about 300 jobs.

An artist’s rendering of the proposed data centre in Athenry

Apple said it will work with local partners to develop new types of renewable energy to provide power in the future for its facilities.

“We believe that innovation is about leaving the world better than we found it, and that the time for tackling climate change is now,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environmental Initiatives.

But according to the Irish Times, a group of local residents in Athenry is opposing its construction.

Residents say that the data centre will negatively impact a nearby primary school, as well as affect local wildlife.

Take our cloud quiz here!

Ben Sullivan

Ben covers web and technology giants such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft and their impact on the cloud computing industry, whilst also writing about data centre players and their increasing importance in Europe. He also covers future technologies such as drones, aerospace, science, and the effect of technology on the environment.

Recent Posts

UK’s CMA Readies Cloud Sector “Behavioural” Remedies – Report

Targetting AWS, Microsoft? British competition regulator soon to announce “behavioural” remedies for cloud sector

5 mins ago

Former Policy Boss At X Nick Pickles, Joins Sam Altman Venture

Move to Elon Musk rival. Former senior executive at X joins Sam Altman's venture formerly…

3 hours ago

Bitcoin Rises Above $96,000 Amid Trump Optimism

Bitcoin price rises towards $100,000, amid investor optimism of friendlier US regulatory landscape under Donald…

4 hours ago

FTX Co-Founder Gary Wang Spared Prison

Judge Kaplan praises former FTX CTO Gary Wang for his co-operation against Sam Bankman-Fried during…

5 hours ago