About

Tom O’Malley, senior corporate counsel – real estate EMEA with Google Ireland, began his career pursuing his training and early years of practice at Macfarlanes in London in its real estate department before moving to Farrer & Co. In January 2016 he fulfilled what he describes as ‘a long standing ambition’ by joining Google UK as the company’s real estate and construction legal adviser on technical infrastructure projects in EMEA. In November 2016 he relocated back to Google Ireland and was subsequently promoted to his current position. O’Malley identifies that, ‘there has been significant scope to shape both [his] role and the way in which [his] internal clients do their business. Google is a highly dynamic place to work – at any one time there are hundreds of different projects ongoing, each with their own diverse needs and always requiring urgent responses. [He has] developed protocols and provided training to the business teams [he] works with to put shape on its processes. This has helped [it] to become more agile in the market and to be able to respond to opportunities more efficiently’. O’Malley advises the team in relation to the complex acquisitions of land and the subsequent construction and operation of data centre facilities. The details of many of his transactions are confidential but have involved dealing with complex acquisitions of land throughout EMEA. These include large sites in the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Sweden as well as other countries which have not yet been announced. In June 2019, Google announced a €1bn data centre investment for the Netherlands, bringing its total data centre investment in the country to €2.5bn. The one billion spend covers an expansion of its Eemshaven data centre, and a new facility in Agriport just outside of Amsterdam. Additionally, Google announced three expansions and one new data centre build in Europe representing €2.2bn investment and over 4,000 jobs created per day during construction for the Netherlands, Belgium and Finland. Google has also commenced the construction of its latest data centre campus at Fredericia in Denmark continuing well with an expected completion date in 2021. The project is a €600m investment and supports renewable energy production. In the words of a nominator, ‘data centres are the literal powerhouses behind companies like Google, and are essential for their success. O’Malley is sharply attuned to all of this and strives at all times to find solutions that help drive this key area of the business forward. Despite the field being a technical one, O’Malley is adept at building meaningful relationships with the people on the ground which keeps outcomes practical’.