Concern over noise levels from new data centre

Plans to build a data centre the height of three double decker buses on a former 50-acre industrial site in a county have moved forward.

Virtus has begun constructing four data centre buildings on the former Molins tobacco machine factory site at Saunderton near High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, three of the buildings – each housing huge banks of computers – will be two storeys high, with the fourth three storeys and almost 17 metres high.

Planning permission was granted in 2008, but new plans have been submitted to Buckinghamshire Council to change the permitted noise levels once the campus is operational.

The company's agent said: "The original wording, as it stands, renders compliance with the operational noise thresholds unachievable and as such the approved development undeliverable."

The restrictions are to help ensure the peace of several residential properties neighbouring the old Molins site, including one that is 20 metres away.

Noise concerns over the new data centre campus were previously raised by Bledlow-cum-Saunderton Parish Council in 2022.

It said it was "concerned" as all the proposed buildings were likely to produce noise from fans and machinery.

In its new application Virtus included an acoustics report which it claimed would give the council "confidence that resultant noise will be managed and controlled to an acceptable, pre-agreed level".

The document specified measures to reduce noise pollution from the data centre, such as barriers and "acoustic attenuation packs" for the site's chiller units.

Last year Virtus said its Saunderton development was a "state-of-the-art data centre campus" driven by the "proliferation of cloud and artificial intelligence applications".

In a statement, the firm said the site was expected to be "ready for service" in the second quarter of 2026.

An office building and the ballroom on the old Molins site will be retained and refurbished under the plans.

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