Facebook is in Meath this morning (6 April) to turn the sod at a ceremony to push forward construction of its new €200m data centre.
It’s rare to find articles featuring the phrase ‘groundbreaking’ that actually revolve around the breaking of ground, so it’s nice to hear about Facebook officials getting stuck in in Meath.
The 220-acre site leaves room for expansion beyond its current blueprint, with around 600 construction jobs being created during the construction phase, leading to 100 full-time staff being in place by the end of next year. There will be two building phases over the next decade on site.
Brian Fitzgerald, the chairperson of Meath County Council, said he was “delighted” his county was chosen by the tech giant.
“It is a huge boost to our drive to attract investment to Meath. We haven’t been too successful down through the years so let’s hope that it is going to lead to others.”
Obligatory ground-breaking image of Brian Fitzgerald, chairperson of Meath County Council, Minister Damien English, Facebook’s Tom Furlong, IDA’s Martin Shanahan and Jackie Maguire, CEO of Meath County Council – via Conor McCabe Photography
Back in January, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg took to his social network to discuss the integral role the Clonee facility will play in the company’s global operations.
Calling it one of “the most advanced and energy efficient” constructions of its kind, Zuckerberg said it would feature the latest server, storage and network designs developed through the Open Compute Project, and will be powered by 100pc renewable energy.
Strangely, the Irish sea is an obstacle that his engineers had to overcome in designing the blueprint, with outdoor air that’s used to cool the facility treated to remove the salt from the air.
An illustration of the completed Clonee Facebook data centre. Image via Facebook
It will take some going to look any better than these data centre gems, though.
