Colo firm Equinix has been given the green light to turn a former paint factory in Slough, UK, into a data center.

Planning permission for the data center campus, which will occupy approximately half of the former AkzoNobel paint factory site off Wexham Road, Slough, was granted by Slough Borough Council’s planning committee at a meeting last week.

Equinix will need to submit a detailed application for the scheme, setting out its appearance, scale, and landscaping.

The company has previously said the campus will comprise three buildings, each with its own data halls. Equinix said the development could be a “landmark in Slough,” which is one of the UK’s busiest data center markets.

The AkzoNobel site started life as a paint factory opened by Naylor Brothers after World War I. It later became part of Nobel Chemical Finishes, which used Slough as a base for manufacturing, distribution, and sale of its products, including the Dulux range.

Latterly, it was owned by AkzoNobel, one of the world’s largest paint companies, which sold the site in 2019. It was subsequently acquired by Slough Council for £38.5 million ($43m) with a view to turning it into a mixed commercial and residential development of 1,000 homes.

However, in 2022, the council agreed to sell the site because the cost of the development was likely to be prohibitive. It said at the time it had agreed a deal to sell the land to an unnamed bidder seeking to turn the factory into a data center. Council leader James Swindlehurst described the offer as “probably the single biggest beneficial transaction I’ve ever seen” for the council.

Equinix was revealed as the new owner last year, when it successfully obtained planning permission to demolish existing buildings on the site in preparation for its new data centers.

The company already has a big presence in Slough, and in 2023 gained planning permission for a new 30MW data center, which will be known as LD14. It will be located on Banbury Avenue, where Equinix already operates its LD7-1 building. A second building, LD7-2, is under development. The company’s LD4, 5, 6, 10, 11x, and 13x data centers are also in Slough.

Elsewhere in London, Equinix recently announced it was spending £3.9 billion ($5.2bn) to buy the upcoming DC01UK campus, which is being developed on a site near the M25 motorway in Hertfordshire.