A huge new Facebook data centre covering 30,000sq m – the size of 11 football pitches – will create at least 30 full-time roles in Sweden’s arctic circle city of Luleå.

The environmentally-friendly site will be the largest facility of its kind in Europe, and will handle all Facebook data for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

According to a company spokesperson, Luleå locals will be given precedence for new roles when they open in early 2013: “Our goal is to hire locally first – and as many people locally as we can.”