5 Exciting Data Centre & Industrial projects in West Africa that we are tracking

Dolapo Omidire . 3 years ago

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5 Exciting Data Centre & Industrial projects in West Africa that we are tracking

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On Wednesday, we will be publishing our newest report, ‘Emerging Opportunities in Logistics, Healthcare and Young Professional Housing’, where we outline the growth in the interest in historically overlooked property sectors as a result of weak performance from traditional property sectors. The logistics/industrial sector is one of particular interest because institutional investment within the space…


On Wednesday, we will be publishing our newest report, ‘Emerging Opportunities in Logistics, Healthcare and Young Professional Housing’, where we outline the growth in the interest in historically overlooked property sectors as a result of weak performance from traditional property sectors. The logistics/industrial sector is one of particular interest because institutional investment within the space is still nascent despite the growing opportunity. There are a handful of recently completed or pipeline industrial developments within West Africa that we are tracking, here are 5 that we have taken a particular interest in. 

 

5 Exciting Data Centre & Industrial Projects in West Africa - Agility Warehouse

5 Exciting Data Centre & Industrial Projects in West Africa – Agility Warehouse

 

Agility Logistics Parks has acquired a 270,000sqm parcel of land on the border of Lagos and Ogun State along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. The plan for the first phase is a 50,000sqm industrial facility, which should be ready in 2022. The Agility team have executed similar projects in Abidjan – Cote d’Ivoire, Maputo – Mozambique and Accra – Ghana, where the success has been impressive. The Accra facility, now in its 6th phase has attracted occupiers such as Cummins and Endela, a factory-direct distributor for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

 

5 Exciting Data Centre & Industrial Projects in West Africa - Mikano Warehouse

5 Exciting Data Centre & Industrial Projects in West Africa – Mikano Warehouse

 

Also located along the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway, this recently completed facility is a very welcome addition to the low quality leasable industrial stock that is typical within Lagos’ Industrial market. In general, the Mikano team has taken a strong recent liking to the real estate industry over the past few years, their team is also a part of a luxury residential development along Queens Drive in Ikoyi called Queen’s Residence. Read more about it on Estate Intel.

 

5 Exciting Data Centre & Industrial Projects in West Africa - Main One Data Centre

5 Exciting Data Centre & Industrial Projects in West Africa – Main One Data Centre

 

Main One is a very well known and established provider of telecom services and network solutions within West Africa. The team at MDX-I, the subsidiary for data centre services commenced construction for a 100 rack facility in Appolonia City, Ghana in May 2020. The team also has a carrier-neutral data centre built to Tier III standards in Abidjan. There is an exciting real estate deal waiting to happen in this company.

 

5 Exciting Data Centre & Industrial Projects in West Africa - Rack Centre

5 Exciting Data Centre & Industrial Projects in West Africa – Rack Centre

 

Rack Centre, backed by Actis and Consonance Partners, their industry experts is another project we’ve been following closely. In September, they announced a $100m expansion in a bid to create West Africa’s largest data centre. The Actis-backed company outlined a programme that will increase capacity to a total net lettable white space of 6,000sqm and allow for 13MW of IT power capacity in its Lagos campus. This will be in addition to the current expansion already underway to double existing capacity to 1.5MW and 1,200sqm of white space in early 2021.

In a note called ‘Africa’s digital revolution needs data centres’, Kabir Chal and Funke Okubadejo explain: “An early mover opportunity exists to establish a network of Pan-African data centres. Notwithstanding the strong sector fundamentals and secular growth trends supporting the data centre sector in Africa, it remains relatively underinvested in SSA (excl. SA). There are a number of reasons for this, including: it is a capital-intensive sector; there is little local expertise in developing and operating data centres; most markets present challenges when dealing with power, real estate and fibre connectivity.” 

Read the full note which was a part of Actis’ October 2020 Macro Forum on Estate Intel.

 

5 Exciting Data Centre & Industrial Projects in West Africa - WestPark Ghana

5 Exciting Data Centre & Industrial Projects in West Africa – WestPark Ghana

 

WestPark is a 405-acre industrial and business park in Takoradi, Ghana. While visiting Takoradi last year, our team got a brief glimpse of the site around the time the Bosch House was going up. BlackIvy, the sponsors of WestPark have also signed deals with DHL and Volkswagen to operate in their facility within the oil-rich Takoradi industrial region. During our time in Takoradi, we provided some insight on the Takoradi Mall by Atterbury where occupancy rates were weak. Read more on Estate Intel.

What are your thoughts on the industrial and data centre opportunity in Nigeria? Join the conversation on LinkedIn and share your thoughts on the projects above or tell us how you think the industrial market is evolving.