M247 buys the freehold of original building

After relocating from London to Manchester in 2009, we opened our first successful 7000 sq.ft. datacentre and headquarters in leasehold premises in Trafford Park. Now, almost three years on and after building additional carrier neutral datacentres in two adjoining freehold premises that we purchased outright in 2011, we have now completed a competitive deal with our original landlord and have finally bought our original headquarters, giving M247 and our customers increased security for the future.

David Buckle, Managing Director of M247 commented “We have been developing a long-term business model and it simply makes good sense for us to own our buildings and infrastructure in order to give our customers the peace of mind that they can benefit from a long term relationship. M247 is a well-funded company that will stand up to any financial scrutiny and we have big plans for the future. We receive a lot of visits from our broad range of customers from all around the world who want to see a commitment to quality and security. We appreciate that they each have special requirements and unless we have complete control of our buildings, it would be difficult to offer them the special facilities that I’m sure make all the difference. Also, the somewhat subdued state of the current property market presented an opportunity to us that was just too good to miss. We felt that the price and the timing was just right for us to close the deal and buy right now.”

M247 is expanding year on year and, against the backdrop of a double-dip recession, is a remarkably successful operation. Our first datacentre has been an energy efficiency benchmark throughout the industry for many years since achieving impressive efficiency figures that put us in the lead throughout Europe. Although we also have significant investments in internet infrastructure in a dozen other large datacentres around the UK and in Europe, we are careful to only specifically claim our two Manchester datacentres as our own.

David Buckle, who, together with two of the other founding directors, were regional finalists for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, commented that “the additional purchase should also help demonstrate to M247 customers that the company is planting deep roots and is here to stay”.

We also have additional premises in Kidderminster where our Managed Services and Data Security operations are based.

The purchase from landlords Commercial Development Projects, for a sum in excess of £1mil, was financed by a mortgage arranged by HSBC and the solicitor acting for M247 was Bolton firm, Stephensons.

This purchase comes soon after M247 bought two other building last year and the total value of all three is just over £2 million.