Important milestone reached for state-of-the-art data centre in Rathenaustraße
Just over six months ago, the global provider of essential infrastructure Goodman Group, the city of Neu-Isenburg and Stadtwerke Neu-Isenburg GmbH signed a Letter of Intent for the construction of a state-of-the-art data centre on the “Frankfurter Rundschau” site on Rathenaustraße. The urban development agreement has now been signed. This marks an important milestone in the project for the three partners.
Goodman Group will construct several buildings on the approximately five-hectare site, designed to meet Goodman’s high sustainability, architecture and design ambition and standards. These include green façades and roofs, which support biodiversity and make a positive contribution to the building’s thermal shell and the surroundings’ microclimate, as well as photovoltaic systems on the office and adjacent buildings. The servers are cooled using an air cooling system that saves drinking water. Goodman is aiming for a LEED certification for sustainable and resource-conserving construction for the project. The resulting carbon-neutral waste heat will be used for municipal heat planning.
Kirk Reineke, Managing Director of Stadtwerke Neu-Isenburg GmbH, explains: “We will build a heating power plant on a nearby Goodman site, which will make an important contribution to the sustainable energy supply of the “Neue Welt” residential development area and the south industrial estate by using the data centre’s waste heat for district heating purposes. We will provide the infrastructure, while Goodman will provide the land for the heating power plant on a leasehold basis. Together with Goodman and the future operator of the data centre, we will then develop a concept to make the best possible use of the waste heat generated for our municipal heat planning.”
Mayor Dirk Gene Hagelstein: “The new data centre at the Neu-Isenburg site will help us to achieve our municipal heat planning goals. We are proud that we have now created the framework conditions for this with the signing of the contract. In addition, the data centre will make a significant contribution to the digital infrastructure. It fits in well with the city's digitalisation and smart city strategy. The architecture and high-quality development also play a key role for us, so that the building blends in perfectly with the cityscape.”
Christof Prange, Head of Germany at Goodman, says: “We deliberately opted for high-quality, innovative architecture that integrates with and enhances the cityscape. In line with our ‘Own, Develop, Manage’ business model, we are planning a long-term commitment at the site. This is the second data centre that we are developing in the Frankfurt region as part of Goodman’s global 5 GW powerbank. By revitalising the derelict site formerly used by the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper, we are providing essential infrastructure for the digital economy and directly benefiting the local community through enabling the waste heat being used for heating purposes. Our special thanks go to the city and the municipal utilities for the excellent cooperation on this complex project. We are delighted to be working with partners who think along the same lines in terms of sustainability, recognise the current opportunities and use them to decarbonise municipal heat planning.”
About the project
Goodman is building a data centre with a power supply capacity of up to 100 megavolt amperes (MVA) on the approximately five-hectare brownfield site of the former Frankfurter Rundschau printing plant. This project aims to address the increasing use of data and support the digital economy in Germany. As data-intensive technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) grow, and digital connectivity in all areas of life increase, data volumes, usage and traffic will continue to rise. Consequently, the demand for data centres to support the digital economy will also increase.
About Goodman
Goodman Group is a global industrial property and digital infrastructure specialist group with operations in key consumer markets across Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe, the United Kingdom, and the Americas. Goodman Group, comprised of the stapled entities Goodman Limited, Goodman Industrial Trust and Goodman Logistics (HK) Limited, is the largest property group on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: GMG), a top 20 entity by market capitalisation, and one of the largest listed specialist investment managers of industrial property globally.
Goodman provides essential infrastructure for the digital economy by owning, developing, and managing high-quality sustainable properties that are close to consumers in key cities around the world. Our property portfolio includes logistics and distribution centres, warehouses, light industrial, multi-storey industrial, business parks and data centres. We take a long-term view, investing significantly alongside our capital partners in our investment management platform and concentrating our portfolio where we can create the most value for customers and investors.
More information at: https://de.goodman.com/
Expo Real 2024 in Munich: Panel discussion about data centres
At the international real estate trade fair “Expo Real” in Munich, the city of Neu-Isenburg and Goodman will participate in a panel discussion on October 8, 2024 at 10:15 a.m. on the topic of “Data centres: growth, sustainability and urban development in focus”. The panel discussion is organised by the Frankfurt Economic Development at its “FrankfurtRhineMain Metropolitan Region” booth (hall C1, booth 330). Goodman can also be found during the whole trade fair from 7 to 9 October at the Frankfurt Economic Development booth.
