The UK’s data centre sector should receive more support from the British government if it is to realise its full potential, techUK has argued in a new study. Written in collaboration with Henham Strategy, techUK’s report says that the British data centre industry is poised to grow faster next year than ever before – but can contribute much more, the latter argues, if the state creates new opportunities for foreign investment and expedited site development.
“We have a choice; we can go for growth, enable the development and investment in data centres while also increasing our own resiliency or we can hinder them, lose their investment and the services that they enable,” wrote techUK’s chief operating officer, Matthew Evans, in the report’s foreword. “To enable that growth, greater collaboration between industry and both central and local government is essential.”
Data centre sector is thriving but could flourish, claims techUK
Recent years have seen the UK’s data centre sector grow markedly, with the industry now responsible for 43,500 jobs and £4.7bn in gross added value (GVA) to the wider economy. That growth is bound to accelerate, argues techUK, amid outsized demand for AI services and the cloud platforms rigged to support their deployment. “The essential role that data centres play in our modern economy is underappreciated by the public and politicians alike,” said Nick King, managing director of Henham Strategy.
Up to £44bn in extra GVA and over 40,000 new jobs could be created by the data centre sector, claims the report, if the growth rate in server farms could somehow be pulled upwards to 15% beyond its current growth rate of 10% – something techUK and Henham Strategy argue could only be achieved through state intervention. That could come in the form of streamlined planning regulations and improved grid connections between new server farms and renewable power plants. “As it has already done so, the sector will play its role,” said Evans. Nevertheless, he added, “we also need the government’s support to help supercharge our economic growth.”
Labour government already supportive of techUK proposals
Many of the report’s proposals have already been anticipated by the current Labour government, both as policy and in the party’s manifesto while in opposition. This includes a specific commitment to reform planning rules to spur data centre construction and a broad-based commitment to modernise the National Grid.
In a statement to ComputerWeekly, DSIT secretary Peter Kyle seemed broadly sympathetic to techUK’s arguments for greater support of the UK data centre sector. “The government has already begun to give a boost to the sector by giving [data centres] Critical National Infrastructure status, which will strengthen protections against events like cyber attacks,” he said. “We have already seen the sector respond with over £25bn of private investment committed in recent months.”
Read more: AWS to invest £8bn in UK data centres over five years
