A major surge in new data centres is planned throughout the UK, with total numbers set to increase by a fifth.
Analysis by construction researcher Barbour ABI, which was initially shared with BBC News, revealed that nearly 100 new data centres are currently being planned.
The analysis looked at available planning documents and found that most of the new facilities are set to be built within the next five years.
Increased data centre demand is being partly driven by the growing prevalence of artificial intelligence (AI) and its own demands for data.
Megan Pounds, Demand Generation Marketing Manager at Barbour ABI, said: “As AI becomes an undeniable integration in our everyday lives, it’s also a major factor in driving the surge of Data Centre construction projects in the UK.”
The UK currently has an estimated 477 data centres, which makes it the third-largest data centre host in the world – behind just the US and Germany.
Of the new planned data centres, more than half will be located either in London or surrounding counties.
Nine are planned for Wales and five will be in Greater Manchester.
Only one is expected to be built in Scotland, at the site of the former Ravenscraig steelworks in Strathclyde.
Largest planned site is a £10bn AI data centre near Newcastle
The single biggest site in the report is a £10bn AI and cloud computing data centre on the site of the former Blyth power station near Newcastle.
This site will come online later than most of the others and will be a massive facility incorporating 10 giant buildings covering a total of 540,000 square metres.
Work is not set to begin on this data centre until 2031, and it’s thought that the project will take at least three years to complete.
The Blyth data centre is being developed by US private investment and wealth management company Blackstone Group.
Most of the planned data centres are private developments, with Microsoft investing in four separate sites for a combined investment of £330m.
Google is also building two data centres in north-east London, with a total cost of £450m.
While the new developments will bring investment and jobs and address increasing data demands, there are some concerns about the impact, including around the data centres’ energy consumption.
Today’s news was brought to you by TD SYNNEX – the UK’s number one solutions distributor.
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