A proposed data centre on East Wellington Rd. passed review by the City's Design Advisory Panel, which focuses on form and character. (dHKarchitects)

By Alex Rawnsley

high tech

Proposed Nanaimo data centre passes design review

Apr 11, 2025 | 10:56 AM

NANAIMO — A large scale data centre envisioned for a presently rural lot west of the Nanaimo Parkway cleared its latest hurdle.

Around a dozen recommendations were made by the City’s Design Advisory Panel on Thursday, April 10, as the overall form and character of a nearly 200,000 square foot industrial data centre on East Wellington Rd. next to Cavallotti Lodge was studied.

Scott Mack from developer Townsite Planning told the Panel the currently rural nature of land to the north of East Wellington Rd. is not projected to stay rural for long, and this project could be the first of many in the area.

“Most the surrounding context appears quite rural, but this is an area that is likely to transition quite significantly over the coming years. All of the lands surrounding the site to the east, west and north are all designated for industrial development in City Plan, some of which is already zoned for industrial.”

The exterior of the building will be largely lined by trees, while a pixelated texture near the main entrances is planned. (dHKarchitects)

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Construction on the site would come in phases, with the first of 10 modular buildings containing a front reception and office space for workers.

Future modules, built one or two at a time, would include data storage units and the required maintenance equipment including HVAC and cooling.

Mack said their designs position the equipment to a point where noise from them wouldn’t exceed what’s already in the neighbourhood.

“The work that was done by the acoustical engineer also informed the design process in terms of the design location and visual and acoustic buffering for rooftop HVAC and cooling equipment. The result of these changes helped to create a significant reduction in the anticipated noise levels at and for the surrounding properties.”

He noted Nanaimo Parkway traffic delivers a “relatively high ambient noise level” which he’s confident this project will fall under.

While exact details of the nature of the data centre are not known, the owner of the site operates a similar facility in Hong Kong, with a client base including banks, government agencies and insurance companies.

The owner has committed to BC Hydro not to run data or crypto mining operations, according to Mack, in large part to an exponential need for power at the site.

Plans for the site include a phased construction, but eventually resulting in 10 modules housing data processing and storage equipment. (dHKarchitects)

Space for the buildings would be cleared on an as-needed basis, with the entire building construction expected to take several years.

A connector road is also planned, for either the eastern or western side of the property, to eventually link up with the Northfield Rd. and Nanaimo Parkway intersection near the old visitor information centre.

Future plans call for a roundabout on East Wellington Rd. at the connector road.

Kinship Design landscape architect Chris Midgley said they’re committed to preserving as much of the natural space as possible, and are exceeding the required 230 replacement trees they’ll need to plant.

“There are some ephemeral wetlands on the site, so we draw from that to start to try to integrate nature based solutions onto the site, to really influence the character. The phasing approach…would be essentially to leave the site at a natural state…only implement the landscape design as it’s required for the modules.”

Recommendations from the Panel included, among others, considering solar panels for energy, enclosing or moving cooling elements to further reduce noise, and the addition of a green roof with pollinator plants.

Support from the panel was not unanimous, as Marta Kubacki voted against recommending the project.

Council will consider a development permit for the facility at a future Council meeting.

The proposed project is controversial and unwanted by many neighbours to the site, with land immediately south of, and across East Wellington Rd., consisting largely of residential properties.

An October 2022 Nanaimo City Council meeting saw several people shouting over the top of Council as they discussed rezoning the site, which passed after a public hearing by an 8-1 vote.

Concerns about the environmental impacts of the facility, as well as “allowing the Chinese to snoop on us” were shouted out as those against the project left Council chambers following the vote.

A crowd of around 30 opponents of a data centre development on East Wellington Rd. temporarily hijacked the Oct. 24, 2022 Nanaimo City Council meeting. (City of Nanaimo)

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