Data Centres UK: All You Need to Know

UK's data centres are planned to be built at an unprecedented pace. Meeting demand for AI computing power, cloud services, and digital infrastructure expansion are among the driving forces. The government has designated them as critical national infrastructure and reformed planning laws to fast‑track construction. With AI workloads and data usage rising sharply, new facilities are essential to store, process, and secure vast amounts of information locally.

What does this mean for Britain? It promises to boost national resilience, attract global investment, and strengthen the UK’s position as a digital hub. However, it also raises concerns about rising energy demand, environmental sustainability, and local planning pressures. Balancing growth with grid capacity, water use, and climate goals will be imperative as the country builds toward its data‑driven future.

The Backbone of a Digital Economy

Data centres are the physical foundation of the digital world. Every cloud upload, AI query, or NHS data transfer relies on vast warehouses of servers that process, store, and distribute data. The UK hosted approximately 450–480 data centres in 2024 with a total capacity of 1.6 gigawatts (GW) and is expected to double or even quadruple by 2030.​​

These facilities are now recognised as part of the UK’s critical national infrastructure, a move made in September 2024 to secure their role in supporting finance, communications, government operations and artificial intelligence.

What Drives the Boom

Three factors underpin the ongoing expansion of UK data centres:

Artificial intelligence: Training and deploying large AI models require enormous computational power and storage. The UK government’s Compute Roadmap (2025) estimates the country will need at least 6 GW of AI-capable data centre capacity by 2030.

Digital services growth: The exponential rise in cloud use, streaming, and fintech services all increase demand for real-time data access.

Economic and strategic imperatives: Domestic data capacity helps retain regulatory control over digital activity, reduce latency, and protect sovereignty over data critical to national security and innovation.​

Major technology companies including Amazon, Microsoft and Google have pledged tens of billions in investment. Projects include Google’s £790 million campus in Hertfordshire and a series of multi-gigawatt hubs planned in Northumberland and Lincolnshire.

Where are UK Data Centres Located?

The majority are clustered around London and Slough, forming one of Europe’s largest data centre markets. London accounts for over 1 GW of operational capacity, with another 1.1 GW in planning and development. Slough alone hosts between 30 and 35 sites.​​

However, the growing saturation of land and grid connections in the South East is pushing operators to expand into regional hubs such as Manchester, Cardiff, Newport, and Northumberland, supported by improved fibre connectivity and the availability of renewable power.

Planning and Policy Reform

In December 2024, the UK government revised the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) to make data centre development a specific planning priority in England. Local planning authorities must now consider digital infrastructure needs on par with manufacturing and logistics facilities.​

The reform also introduced options for data centres to be designated as Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs) allowing faster approval from the Secretary of State. Furthermore, AI Growth Zones (AIGZs) were launched in mid-2025, designed to co-locate AI firms, computing facilities, and renewable energy infrastructure.

Scotland’s planning framework already identifies “green data centres”, powered by renewables, as national priority projects, while Wales and Northern Ireland lag behind with no dedicated policy references.​

Energy Consumption and Grid Constraints

The Commons briefing notes that UK data centres currently consume around 2.5% of national electricity, a figure projected to quadruple by 2030, reaching roughly 22 terawatt-hours per year. This rapid climb mirrors a global pattern: data centres are expected to represent over 7% of global electricity use by 2030.​

Energy cost remains a limiting factor. Operating a data centre in Britain costs up to four times more than in the US, largely due to grid inefficiencies and higher wholesale pricing. Limited connection capacity is another barrier; projects can wait up to a decade to secure grid access. In response, the government is prioritising “strategically significant” grid connections and exploring nuclear small modular reactors as stable, low-carbon power sources.

Sustainability and Water Use

Operators are under increasing scrutiny over environmental impact. The Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact commits signatories which include Equinix, Digital Realty and Vantage to achieve near-zero emissions and specific efficiency standards by 2030.

Cooling remains the biggest challenge. Although UK facilities generally rely less on water than those in the US, water use is still rising. In October 2025 that Scottish data centres’ water consumption has quadrupled since 2021, prompting regulatory reviews and local concern.​

The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has urged developers to prioritise sites with renewable energy access and climate resilience. They have proposed a “bronze–silver–gold” environmental rating system for new data centre projects.​

Economic Contribution

While highly automated and employing relatively few people, data centres generate major indirect economic benefits. Their combined annual gross value added (GVA) stands at £4.7 billion, and is projected to deliver up to £44 billion in additional GVA and £9.7 billion in tax receipts between 2025 and 2035.​

A typical £10 billion hyperscale campus may only employ a few hundred permanent on-site workers but catalyse thousands of indirect jobs across construction, maintenance, and local supply chains.

The Resilience Challenge

Cybersecurity and operational resilience are central to government planning. The forthcoming Cyber Resilience Bill (2025) will bring data centres into the Network and Information Systems (NIS) regulatory regime, imposing duties to mitigate cyber and physical threats.

Indeed, most UK facilities already meet the EN 50600 and ISO 27001 international standards for design and data protection resilience. However, the scale of AI demand and climate risks, particularly regarding power and cooling disruptions, creates new requirements for national coordination.

The Sustainability Paradox

The data centre surge poses a paradox. These facilities power the UK’s green digital transformation, however their own growth intensifies energy and water pressures. Experts warn that without new grid planning, renewable capacity, and efficiency technologies, expansion could threaten national net-zero goals.​

To achieve balance, industry and government initiatives are converging on three principles:

Efficiency through innovation — Advanced cooling, heat reuse, and AI-driven load management.

Cleaner power — Strategic use of renewables and nuclear energy integration.

Smarter planning — Locating growth zones near low-carbon generation and reinforcing local grids.

Looking Ahead

The UK’s data centre network is fast becoming a cornerstone of its industrial and digital strategy. From AI innovation to national resilience, data infrastructure now carries as much political weight as roads or energy networks.

However, the question remains: can the UK build its digital brain without overwhelming its environmental heart? If transparent regulation, renewable integration, and spatial planning proceed in tandem, data centres may indeed offer the foundation for an equitable, resilient, and low-carbon digital economy.