Eastern Creek: Roberts Road Data Centre expansion plans approved
A mammoth IT storage hub set to be built in the heart of western Sydney is expected to create hundreds of jobs. SEE THE PLANS FOR THE $291M CENTRE HERE.
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A massive IT hub storing government and personal data will be built in the heart of western Sydney after plans for the almost $300m facility were given the green light.
The proposed multimillion-dollar expansion of the existing Roberts Road Data Centre in Eastern Creek was fast-tracked for approval this month in the latest round of the State Government’s planning acceleration scheme.
The $291 million development from Canberra Data Centres is expected to generate more than 460 jobs during construction and 10 ongoing full-time positions once it opens its doors in about five years’ time.
The expansion will see three, three-storey data storage warehouses along with supporting infrastructure, generators and office spaces built at the former Austral Bricks quarry site.
The mammoth centre will cover more than 44,000sqm and will operate around the clock, storing vast quantities of electronic data via the cloud for government agencies and private corporations.
Canberra Data Centres will operate the facility, adding to its growing portfolio of six data centres across Canberra and western Sydney.
According to planning documents, the centre would collect, store, process and distribution of electronic data.
“In recent years, there has been an increased need for new large and small-scale data centres across the state,” documents read.
“As new technologies (such as driverless cars, faster mobile data networks and artificial intelligence) become commonplace, a significant number of large and small-scale data centres will be required to store the volume of electronic data accessed and created by Australians.
“(Canberra Data Centres) has justified the need for the development by highlighting the growing demand for cloud-based data storage within the Sydney region.”
Once complete, the centre could house personal data such as Facebook account details or Instagram photos, corporate data such as a business’ payroll system or sensitive government data such as tax or Medicare records.
The centre will lease space to ‘tenants’ within its data halls, who will then be responsible for fitting out the space with their own computer systems, servers and networking equipment.
Approving the development, the state planning department deemed the centre to be in the “public interest” as it would support “economic development, employment and training opportunities in western Sydney”.
The data centre is one of several proposed for the western Sydney area, with a further two data centres recently approved by the State Planning Panel in Eastern Creek and Huntingwood.
Construction is expected to commence in the near future, with the centre set to open within four to five years.