• Glencar has started piling for the West Shell of Pure DC's 70MW LON01B2 facility at Brent Cross
  • Building 1 is already operational and the East Cold Shell is in fit-out, while completion of B2 is scheduled for Q2 2029

The fact

Pure Data Centres said on 3 September that Glencar had started piling for the West Cold Shell of its LON01B2 development at Brent Cross in North London. Pure DC describes the work as the final major build phase of its LON01 campus. B2 is planned to provide 70MW and add more than 23,000 square metres, taking total campus capacity to 90MW. Completion of the wider B2 facility is scheduled for the second quarter of 2029.

Glencar's package covers piling and foundations, underground services, the structural frame, building envelope and connections to the adjacent East Cold Shell. The work is taking place on a live campus: Pure DC says the existing 20MW Building 1 is operational, while the East Cold Shell is currently being fitted out. Pure DC says B2 is designed for high-density cloud and AI workloads and will use closed-loop liquid cooling.

The assessment

Pure DC is building the West Shell beside two different stages of the same campus: Building 1 is already operating, while the East Cold Shell is being fitted out. That means Glencar cannot treat the West Shell as an isolated construction site. Deliveries, access and connections have to be coordinated with work and operations next door.

Glencar is responsible for the West Shell structure, but other teams will take the building through fit-out and commissioning. The connection to the East Shell is one point where those separate packages meet. Pure DC has not reported a delay, but keeping those handovers in sequence matters to the Q2 2029 programme.

For BTW readers, the start of piling is an early construction milestone rather than evidence that the 70MW facility is close to service. Shell completion, fit-out, commissioning, and final B2 handover will show how the project moves from a building structure to operating data-centre capacity.

What to watch

Watch for completion and handover of the West Cold Shell, followed by fit-out and commissioning milestones for B2. Updates on the connection between the East and West shells will show whether the parallel work packages are staying aligned. The main deadline remains completion of the wider 70MW B2 facility in Q2 2029.