Plans to build a new transatlantic cable station as part of Google’s Nuvem project have been submitted for approval by the Development Applications Board.

The document pledges a “respectful” approach to the East End community on the site where Google’s cable comes ashore.

Last year, it was announced that the tech giant would pay $4,867,500 for the 262-year lease of a 5.9 acre site at Burrows Hill, Southside to create a transatlantic cable station.

A recently submitted planning application for the project showed a 35,000 sq ft single-storey building, along with a small guard house and parking for 14 cars and 12 motorcycles.

A mechanical yard will house six standby generators, with four to be used in emergencies and two to remain as redundant, along with fuel tanks, mechanical chiller equipment and an above-ground fire water tank.

The documents said that the facility would “typically” have one or two people on site during business hours, with monthly visits from contractors for maintenance purposes.

The planning application states that Seagrass Ltd, a local subsidiary of Google, had launched an “ambition strategy” to develop the cable landing station to receive multiple cables.

“This project will provide local companies with significant opportunities in the building construction phase but also the beach and front haul work, and various marine related activities supporting the cable installation on shore and with future maintenance,” the documents stated.

“Once operational, the cable landing station that this building supports will employ Bermudians along with specialist experts.

“Seagrass Ltd is committed to educational opportunities and will be working as the station is built, to develop a road map for supporting education and training for local Bermudian resources.”

The application noted that as part of the project, Seagrass is supporting the relocation of the RC car racetrack on the site and has started consultation on work at Annie’s bay, where the cable lands into a beach manhole.

“Annie’s Bay is important historically and is culturally sensitive with the community,” the application said.

“We want to undertake a respectful and meaningful dialogue on Annie’s Bay to ensure we understand the community and its key objectives.

“Although distinct from the building development on the site in question, this further solidifies the relationship between Seagrass and Bermuda.”

The planning documents said Seagrass is also committed to reviewing and supporting clean air initiatives, stating that the site has the potential to support solar energy generation in the future.

The documents added that the project would bring “unknown spin-off or multiplier impacts” as the station would encourage and support other businesses to “lever off the data switching capabilities and data access”.

"This is one of the elements of the Government’s strategy for the Digital Atlantic Port and supporting the development of St David’s area,“ the application said.

The documents added that the developers intend to host a town hall meeting in connection with the application to field questions, open dialogue and help a relationship with the community and stakeholders.

Lee Livingston, a senior executive with Google, said in February of this year that construction work on the station was hoped to start next year.

The cable link itself is expected to be completed next year and become operational in early 2027.