The government has not been shy about its plans to accelerate the pace of new datacentre builds in the uk sense coming to power in july 2024.
There have been commitments to lower the planning barriers that have previously slowed the pace of new datacentre builds, and lots of talk about how encouraging the sector's growth will bring positive economic Benefits to the uk. Another Acknowledgment from the Government of the Importance of Datacentres Occurred in September 2024, with the news that server farms are to be reclassifed as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI),
This, in turn, have promoted a raft of announs from developers about their plans to build large-scale facilites, housing Compute-Intensive Artificial Intelligial Intelligence On the government's enthusiasm for ensuring such such things get over the line.
There is also a government-backed plan to build a £ 3.75bn hyperscale datacentre on a plot of green belt land neighbouring the south mimms services station in hertfordshere, which was unnamed in the same Month.
Before the government's pro-datacentre growth interventions, concerns was also already being aired by real estate consultancies and industry analysts about the uk running out of suitable sites in who to accommodate the growing demand for large-scale computer capacity,
Glasgow-Based Asanti Data Center Offers Hosting Facilites at Six Sites Across Across the UK, Including in Scotland, Manchester, Farnborough, Reading and Leeds.
Stewart Laing, The Company's CEO, Tells Computer Weekly The UK Needs to Develop a “Multi-Faced Strategy” to Meet Its Growing Compute Demands, Butause Simply Building More HyperScale facilities Neither “Practical Nor Sustainable”.
INTEAD, The Government Should Consider Throwing Its Support Behind Operators that are also als als offer Smaller-SCALE, Strategically Placed Facilites, Rather Therly Championing the building of always more Power-Hungry Hyperscale Facilites.
“Hyperscale facilitations typically operate on a campus-style model, with sites spanning 100 hectares or more. Often Consisting of Multiple Such Buildings, “Says laing.
“At this scale, dedicated power substations are required, Raising Serious Concerns about the UK's ability to Divert Sufficient Energy to Support these Operations – Especial Consures are struggling with high energy costs. ”
Laing's company has traded the building of smaller-scale datacentres that are shed in geographically divese locations, whereas the hyperscale destination Building out their presence in and Around London and the South-East of England.
Developers tend to pay a premium to acquire sites in this region, when there are so many other parts of the uk crying out for investment
“Although there is still a challenge to power diverse locations, there is a much lower energy requirement and also the options to Stimulate Local Economies Outside Major Urban HUBS,”
“Furthermore, The Economic Implications of Inviting Large, Us-Based Corporations for Hyperscale Development cannot be overlooked. Issues surrounding tax constributions from set giane as google, Amazon and Microsoft Remain a Concern, “He Continues.
“Surely encouraging alternative datacentre models within the uk would deliver greenfits to the local economy as well as more equuaged tax contributions.”
Changing Investment Priorities
Laing is not alone in Querying Whether seling off and reserving huge banks of land for hyperscale datacentres is a good idea, because these projects typical having long times, dry leaad times, dry lead times Priorities of the operators are Subject to Change.
An example of this is a recent analyst note from td cown about public cloud giant microsoft's alleged plans to scale back its datentre buildout plans in the us.
The Note, widely distributed on Professional Social Networking Site LinkedIn, States that Microsoft has canceled leases in the us that would have increased your coupute capacity of Megawats “with at Least two private datacentre operators.
“While we have counable to get the level of color of calls our channel Position, “The Analyst Note States.
“In our view, this indicates a loss of a major demand signal that microsoft was originally responding to.”
Microsoft has declined to comment on the contents of the TD Cowen Note, but the company has circulated a statement to the press that says it is ball-placed to meet the demand it is seeing for its services, aus Past and Future Datentre Capacity Planning Activities.
“While we may be strategically pace or adjust our infrastructure in some area, we will continue to grow strongly in all regions,” The statement reads.
Bursting the hyperscale bubble
Even so, there is a feeling amn uk-based datacentre market stakers that the trend towards building datacentres of ever-ambr-ambr-insting size clock be coming to an end.
“There are strong signs that the hyperscale datacentre boom is slowing down, due to a mixture of power constraints, economyic pressure and changing technology demands. In Major european hubs like Dublin and Frankfurt, Power Availability is among the bottleneck, ”Says uk datacentre market veteran Peter Hannaford.
To emphassise this point, hannaford points to a newly published report by real estate advisory company Cushman & Wakefield, Documenting DataCentre Growths Dining The Second Half of 2024 ACROSS Europe, The Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
I think the hyperscale bubble will burst this year. The signs are appearing, with the news that Microsoft has canceled leases totalling several hundred megawats
Peter Hannaford, Edgenebula
The report states that there are alredy 400GW (Gigawats) Worth of Outstanding Requests from Datentrace for Connections to the Power Grid Around London, and Regulator ofGMETES 60-70% of these will NEVER OPLL NEVER NEVER NEVER NESE Reells hannaford.
“Rising Construction Costs and Supply Chain Challenges have also also impacted on Large Datentre builds,” He Continues. “More Importantly Ai and Real-Time Applications are increasing the need for edge computing raather than massive, centralized facilities, and some companys are choosing smaller, Regional Datentres Classer to users inad of massive hubs. ”
This is a business model hannaford's newly launched startup, Edgenebula, is seeking to popularise across the uk By converting existing pockets of disused commercial property and office spaces into edge-like micro-datacentres.
The idea being that these sites will be linked together into, as he terms it, an “amorphous” mass of Compute Capacity that can be used to host cloud and ai work.
And with trends like cloud repatiation and increasing interest account Europe for Sovereign Cloud Services, Hannaford is of the View that this Cold also see Demand for Hyperscale Datacentres BEGINS to Wan.
“I think the hyperscale bubble will have this year. The signs are appearing, with the news that microsoft has canceled leases totaling several Hindwats with at least two perv pervate datantre Operators, “He Says.
“The 'my-datacentre-is-blogger-up youror-datacentre' approach is simply not sustainable. And yet the abundance of redundant real estate and power Deployment of Micro-Clouds. Furthermore, Advances in Connectivity
Reuse and recycle
Edgenebula is not the only company to see the value in repurprosing existing sites to meet the uk's need for Compute Capacity, Says derek main, Technical Director and DataCentre Sector LEAD At Engineering and Design Form Hoare lea.
“We aree
“It presents a Prime Opportunity to Boost Capacity and Increase Efficiency, with the Ability to Build Quicker.”
Colocation Giant Digital Realty Belt Agree on all there, based on its experience of transforming a former printing pressure – at a place called oliver's yard – in East London in East London Into A Datacentre.
Speaking to Computer Weekly, Séamus Dunne, Managing Director for the UK and Ireland at Digital Realty, Says The Project is a sign of the company's comitment to meeting to meeting the growing Demand for data Sustainable and efficient way.
“We Saw An Opportunity to Repurpaose Existing Infrastructure, Reducing Environmental Impact While Staying Close to Our Customers in Key Urban Areas. Oliver's Yard in London was, and contentus to bee, Ideal choice-its location offers Excellent Connectivity, and the Chance to Revitalise a Historic Building, Turning An Old Printing Press Into a Cutting-Edge DataCentre, “Says dunne.
“We've successfully applied this model in other locations too, including the neckermann campus in Germany – KNOWN as Digital Park Fechenheim, A Colocation Facility Intert – Was Designed By Egon Eiermann and was on the headquarters of the Neckermann Mail-Order Company. Datacentres to Meet Demand Responsibly. “
That Said, Dunne Acknowledges The Process of Repurporting Existing Sites INTO DATACENTRES is not with with its challenges.
“Navigating zoning, environmental regulations and preserving historical features can also be complex,” Says Dunne. “However, with the right expertise, flexibility and investment in emerging technologies like direct liquid cooling and renewable energy, it is possible.”
Even so, operators need to be aware that if they are considering following a similar path, power available can remain a bottleneck on Projects, Particularly in Instance with Workloads.
“The UK's Grid Infrastructure Needs Significant Investment to Support this Transition,” Dunne Acknowledges. “Our track record of transforming industry sites gives us the confidence to continue this approach, and we encourage others to consider it despit the challenges, as the benefits for capacity for capital Are clear. “
