Cawley Road datacenter project overview

May 2023 – Progress update

Building One

The structural work for this first building is now complete and interior work for datacenter is currently underway.

Building Two

Structural works on the datacenter building and substation will begin soon. The substation will be housed within the site boundaries and will meet all Australian and EPA guidelines and regulations.

As these works progress, the local community may see an increase in construction traffic and equipment deliveries. Traffic management will be implemented to support the flow of traffic when required. Staff parking is available on site to reduce traffic impacts. The Community Engagement team will liaise with our neighbours to provide early notice of disruptive works.

December 9th, 2022 – Site clearing notification

Teams are continuing to clear the site by removing materials from the demolished warehouse.  To ensure the health and safety of our workers and the community, our partners at Kapitol Group continue to implement and follow health and safety standards during this stage of the process. To minimize disruption to the community, construction work will not be performed earlier than 7am.

December 5th, 2022 – Breaking ground with community leaders at Melbourne datacenter sites

On December 5, 2022, Microsoft and our construction partners welcomed local community leaders to groundbreaking ceremonies at three of our Melbourne datacenter locations: Garden Drive, Cawley Road, and Woods Road. Together with our general contractors, Kapitol Group and BESIX Watpac, and our partners, AusNet Services, Aurecon, ERM, and Turner & Townsend, we honored members of the Hume Council, Maribyrnong Council, Wyndham Council, and Invest Victoria to these three sites to mark the commencement of construction.

Wurundjeri Traditional Owners opened the groundbreaking events with Welcome to Country (Tanderrum) and Smoking Ceremonies.

The Melbourne datacenters will help provide the physical infrastructure for the technology we depend on at work and in our personal lives. Cloud services play an increasingly significant role in our lives – enabling remote work and learning, global collaboration, and business continuity; supporting discovery and innovation; and importantly, powering critical life and safety services. Microsoft datacenters support a wide spectrum of crucial services in Australia, from the lifesaving work of doctors and first responders to essential services like groceries and online banking.

Microsoft has operated in Australia for 39 years, and we continue to invest in the region and the ecosystem of partners and technology providers we rely on to meet the demand of delivering fast, reliable, and sustainable cloud services.

Microsoft is committed to the long-term health of the communities in which we operate and where our employees live and work.

October 26, 2022 – Datacenter pre-construction project overview

Microsoft will enter into the next stage of construction by starting work on the physical structure for the Cawley Road datacenter in October 2022. As such community members may start to see construction site activity increase. The datacenter construction site is located in the Yarraville inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Why datacenters are needed

Datacenters provide the physical infrastructure for the technology we depend on at work and in our personal lives. Whenever you open an app on your phone, join a virtual classroom or meeting, snap and save photos, or play a game with your friends online, you are using a datacenter. Local businesses, government, hospitals, and schools rely on datacenters every day to deliver you goods and services.

Construction timeline

Datacenter construction will occur between October 2022 through early 2024.

There was an existing warehouse in this industrial precinct which has been demolished, and construction will now be progressing to the underground cable installation.

Together with our general contractor, Kapitol Group, we will keep neighbours informed in advance of key construction events, including traffic mitigation plans, and will perform work within the hours detailed in our planning approval conditions.  Should there be any significant disruptions, we will notify the local community in advance to reduce any potential impacts.

Also, we will consistently, during the course of construction,  verify that our contractors’ Construction Environmental Management Plans capture the appropriate clean-up and reinstatement expectations.

Staying connected

We will keep the community up to date via our Australia page in our Microsoft in Your Community blog.

If you have construction related questions or concerns, please contact Robert Jordan at Kapitol Group by calling, 0411 772 241

For PR-related questions contact Microsoft Media Relations.

For community related questions, contact us at MelDC@Microsoft.com