Panattoni Enters Data Centre Market with Key Senior Hires

Panattoni has launched a major new initiative to develop data centres across Europe, the UK, India and the Middle East with the appointment of four senior specialists.

Panattoni’s new dedicated data centres team will be led by Richard Wellbrock, who joins as Managing Director, Data Centres. He brings more than 25 years of real estate experience, including almost 20 years focused on the development of data centres. Most recently, as the Chief Commercial Officer at Colt Data Centre Services (DCS), a leading global data centre operator. Richard played a key role in delivering large-scale, AI-ready data centre campuses across Europe and Asia, driving growth from 100MW to 1GW, including supporting a $1.5 billion joint venture with Mitsui.

Joining Richard Wellbrock at Panattoni are Nick Parker, Head of Capital Deployment, Data Centres; John Belton, Head of Development, Data Centres; and Paul Terry, Infrastructure Director, Data Centres.

Nick Parker, who was previously Global Senior Director of Asset Management at Colt DCS, where he led over €5 billion in capital deployment strategies, supported transactions of around 250MW with hyperscale customers and played a central role in structuring international joint ventures and investment strategy across India, Japan and Europe.

John Belton, who served as Global Senior Director of Development at Colt DCS, has around 40 years’ experience in engineering and data centre development. He managed Colt DCS’s global development portfolio, creating a pipeline capable of delivering more than 1GW of IT load across multiple countries.

Paul Terry, who was Colt DCS’s Global Director of Development Infrastructure, led infrastructure design and delivery from land acquisition through to handover, managing major utility and technology programmes.

All four will be based in London and report to Robert Dobrzycki, CEO and co-owner of Panattoni Europe, UK, Middle East and India.

Robert Dobrzycki, CEO, said: “This is a significant new chapter for Panattoni. Data centres are essential infrastructure for the modern economy, and we are now building a world-class platform to deliver them. Richard and his team bring exceptional experience and insight”.

Richard Wellbrock, Managing Director, Data Centres, said: “Panattoni has an outstanding track record of development at scale and pace. With our team now in place, we’re looking forward to growing the business across Europe, the UK, India and the Middle East, supporting hyperscalers, cloud providers and enterprise customers with high-quality data centre solutions”.