CBRE finds record data center colocation activity across Europe

by Brianna Crandall — March 8, 2017 — There was a record 155MW of take-up across the four major European data center markets of Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris during 2016 according to global real estate advisor CBRE.

Amsterdam (54WM) became the first market in history to see more than 50MW of take-up in a single year, while London (49MW) and Frankfurt (34MW) recorded more take-up than any individual market had done in any year before 2016; the previous high was London with 29MW in 2010.

The Paris market saw 17.6MW of take-up in the year, which is over seven times that of a particularly poor performance in 2015 (2.5MW). This was, in percentage terms, the largest increase from any market on the previous year.

According to Andrew Jay, executive director, Data Centre Solutions, at CBRE:

The record level of take-up in 2016 was totally unprecedented. Q4 alone saw almost as much activity as any other full year. Over the course of 2016 all four markets saw more take-up than they each did in the previous two years combined. The numbers are quite astounding.

Cloud continues to dominate the landscape, with 70% of deals coming from this sector. These hyperscale cloud deals that once would have been unusual became the norm. We predict that cloud take-up will continue to increase in size as more hyperscale providers turn to large-scale build-to-suit facilities as an effective speed to-market option.

For more information, visit the CBRE EMEA Research Gateway.