Microsoft expected to pump €880m into data centre growth

The land sits alongside existing Microsoft centres in the business park, and is owned by Microsoft, Takeda, a pharma group, and South Dublin County Council.

Each centre measures more than 17,500 sq.metres, and plans contain proposals for offices, computer/support areas, electrical component rooms, plant and associated equipment.

The project is expected to create 2,500 jobs for construction workers.

Microsoft is seeking permission for 1,750 parking spaces for construction workers on the Takeda and council sites, as well as 160 additional spaces for full-time workers when the four new data centres are completed.

The software giant first opened a data centre in Grange Castle in 2009 at a cost of approximately €600 million – expanding the centre to a colossal 500,000sq.ft. facility.

In January, the company received planning permission from South Dublin County Council to construct two new data centres at an adjoining plug-in site at Grange Castle.

Microsoft are understood to be ahead of schedule with regard to their development plans in Grange Cross within the County Development Plan.

The existing Microsoft data centre hosts about 200 core products, including Office365, its Bing search engine, as well as its cloud development platform Azure.

Plans for the four new data centres contain proposals for site-enabling works, including demolition of an existing vacant house and outbuildings, diversion of Baldonnel stream, ancillary site works for connection to infrastructural services, and provision for installation of heat dispersal infrastructure to facilitate potential heat energy recycling.

An environmental impact statement has been submitted with the application.

Microsoft would not comment on the development to The Echo.