Pure DC ’ s living wall , being installed by specialist firm Viritopia , will cover an area of 7,400 square metres , making it the largest in the world . The current title is held by The Khalifa Avenue in Qatar , which is 7,000 square metres . The largest living wall on a building is One Assembly in Singapore , which is 5,300 square metres .

Work has already begun on the site , adjacent to Pure DC ’ s existing London data centre , which will take overall capacity at the London campus to over 90MW , with capacity to expand further – helping to satisfy the increasing demand for cloud services and AI processing .

The living wall will envelop the new structure and will contain more than 750,000 individual plants which will be installed using a modular system . Key functions of the plants are to absorb noise and to help filter out air pollution .

The extensive planting area will also enhance the site ’ s biodiversity by creating important habitats for birds and insects . It will also provide a protective outer layer to the building , helping to reduce solar gain and improve the microclimate .

Demand for data centres is at an all-time high , especially in London , which accounts for 80 % of the UK ’ s data centre market . The data centre market in the UK is projected to grow by over 60 % by 2029 .

Dame Dawn Childs , Chief Executive Officer for Pure DC , said : “ The data centre industry is facing a critical challenge of building the digital infrastructure needed to support the demands of global data growth in a way that also takes care of the local environment . Gaining planning permission for the living wall is an exciting step in our effort to meet this challenge head-on .

“ Alongside our subsidiary , A Healthier Earth , who play a significant role in helping us to accelerate nature-positive projects like this , Pure is committed to researching and developing innovative solutions which support long-term biodiversity projects and ensure our data centres make a positive impact in the areas where we work .”

The project is the latest innovation from Pure DC , which develops and operates data centres that incorporate innovative design features to be as sustainable as possible , using modern and innovative building materials and effective decarbonisation processes .

INTELLIGENT INFRASTRUCTURE

Pure DC conducts Life Cycle Assessments ( LCA ) on every development to understand its construction and operational carbon footprint . It aims to send zero waste to landfill and remove water usage in operation via closed-loop cooling systems and rainwater harvesting , where possible .

Pure has replaced diesel in standby generators with Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil ( HVO ) wherever it can be sustainably sourced , reducing CO 2 emissions by up to 90 % for Scope 1 .

Pure DC ’ s research and development subsidiary A Healthier Earth will oversee the construction of the living wall . This climate-tech catalyst develops , delivers and operates planet-positive projects . �

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