FBW Group, a major player in East Africa’s construction and development sector, has been appointed to the team delivering what is set to be the region’s largest data centre. Work has begun onsite to create a multi-million dollar facility at Tatu City, the special economic zone on the outskirts of the Kenyan capital Nairobi.
The groundbreaking project is being developed by communication group Airtel Africa’s data centre arm Nxtra. The 44-megawatt facility will be a major addition to Kenya’s digital infrastructure and has been designed to support cloud computing, AI workloads, and enterprise-scale services across the region.
The project will strategically position Kenya as a continental technology hub and the centre is expected to start operations in the first quarter of 2027. Planning, design, engineering and architecture consultancy FBW Group is providing local support services to the lead designer team Meinhardt Group, based in Dubai.
“We’re delighted to be playing our part in such an important project for Kenya and the wider region,” Robert Woffenden, FBW’s business development manager in Kenya. “The scale and quality of the centre is game-changing. It is a major investment in the country’s future. It will expand broadband connectivity, spur innovation, and enable the digital economy to flourish.
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He said the the project is delivering world-class infrastructure and setting a new benchmark for enterprise-ready data centres on the continent. “Sustainability is another important feature of the project,” Mr Woffenden said. “Tatu City delivers more than 95% renewable energy, making it one of the most sustainable locations for data centres on the globe.”
Paul Moores, FBW managing director, says the group is ready to play a growing role in the development of data centres, an increasing focus of investment in East Africa, providing its local support, design and oversight services.
“We are seeing increasing interest in the design and construction of data centres, which we believe represents an enormous opportunity for East Africa, and we are well placed to play our part in their delivery,” he said. “These projects are highly specialised and technically challenging. As a multi-disciplinary practice, we are able to draw on a wide skills base and resources as well as all the experience we have helping to deliver highly complex developments in a range of sectors, including health, bioscience and energy.”
FBW Group, which has offices in Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda, has a strong record of delivery on high-profile infrastructure projects across East Africa and beyond. It collaborates on programmes of importance both economically and socially, using its on-the-ground knowledge to aid successful delivery.
FBW works with both private and institutional clients, and over its 30 years of operation has built longstanding relationships a trusted ‘Partner of Choice’ for groundbreaking developments. Its recent high-profile projects have included delivering the newly opened Clinical Research Excellence And Training Open Resource (CREATOR) – a postgraduate medical specialist and research training centre in Malawi.
CREATOR is now providing the most sophisticated clinical research training environment in the region and will be truly transformational and life-changing for the African nation. FBW is also part of the team tasked with delivering the groundbreaking Kigali Green City masterplan in the Rwandan capital.
And in Uganda it led an international team that delivered new eco-friendly headquarters in Kampala for two major United Nations agencies. The new office, handed over at the end of last year, houses the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and The World Food Programme (WFP).
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