海角视频

The race to attract data centre investment is accelerating, yet the ability of any region to compete hinges on something deceptively simple: land availability. Not just any land, but the right land in the right location, supported by the right infrastructure, and aligned with a wider spatial and economic strategy.

As demand for capacity intensifies and operators scale up to meet the needs of cloud services, AI, advanced computing and digital sovereignty, land has become one of the most challenging and politically sensitive constraints for local authorities. It is also the point where every other constraint converges 鈥� with sites needing access to resilient energy, water and fibre connections.

Over the past decade the scale of development has shifted dramatically. Data centres are no longer small, self鈥慶ontained boxes absorbed into industrial estates. They are increasingly vast campuses, with footprints extending across multiple parcels of land and shaping the future form of entire districts. This evolution is being driven by two forces. The first is sheer technical demand, with operators needing both the scale and the safeguarded expansion space required for high鈥慸ensity computing. The second is the gravitational pull of infrastructure. Proximity to high鈥憊oltage grid capacity, resilient and diverse fibre routes, and viable cooling strategies now defines whether a site is even worth considering. This is pushing development towards edge鈥憃f鈥憉rban sites, strategic logistics corridors and places where infrastructure can realistically be reinforced.

Dominating the market

Yet it is not simply the size of these developments that is reshaping the landscape. It is the pressure they exert on land markets already stretched to breaking point. Industrial land is scarce across UK cities and extremely limited in London. Data centres, able to pay significantly higher land values, are increasingly outcompeting manufacturing, logistics and other industries that rely on long鈥憈erm spatial stability.

Graziano Di Gregorio, an associate strategic planner in 海角视频鈥檚 urban strategies team, says: 鈥淎t the moment, it鈥檚 a market-led situation. As a rapidly growing and profitable sector, data centres can offer higher prices for land than other traditional industrial or commercial users, which means they are increasingly occupying key areas simply because they can pay more鈥�.

Independent market evidence shows this is now a structural trend. Savills reports[1] that AI鈥慸riven demand from data centres is placing upward pressure on UK industrial land values, with these facilities increasingly competing directly with traditional industrial and logistics sites for prime locations. Colliers[2] further confirms that data centres are now acquiring land that historically belonged to logistics and other industrial uses, signalling a shift in how employment land is being absorbed across the UK.

This is not simply a market curiosity. It has profound implications for local economic resilience. If industrial land is lost to data centres in a reactive, unmanaged way, authorities may find themselves with limited space for essential employment uses, undermining whole supply chains and reducing job density. Although data centres generate wider indirect economic benefits, the loss of direct employment creates a political challenge for councils already balancing competing pressures on limited land supply.

For local authorities, the real challenge lies in understanding the wider economic ecosystem that sits behind these land鈥憉se decisions. Industrial land underpins supply chains, warehousing, last鈥憁ile logistics, manufacturing, utilities and a wide spread of SMEs, so even small losses can have cumulative impacts on job density, operational resilience and long鈥憈erm economic diversity. Yet most authorities are being forced to make these decisions with partial or inconsistent information, since data on industrial land availability, grid capacity, fibre routes and water constraints is rarely held in a single place. Recent analysis[3] shows that demand from data centres is already influencing industrial land values and competing directly with traditional logistics uses, which reinforces how important it is for decision makers to understand the full implications of allocating land to a high鈥慶apital but low鈥慹mployment use.

To navigate this, authorities need more integrated evidence bases and clearer cross鈥慸epartmental collaboration, involving planning, economic development, energy and utilities teams, alongside national grid operators and digital infrastructure providers. In our work, we are increasingly advising clients to adopt spatial frameworks that bring land, grid, fibre and water considerations together, so decisions reflect not only immediate investment pressures but the long鈥憈erm needs of local businesses, industrial clusters and communities. This shift from reactive decision making to system鈥憌ide planning is becoming essential if regions are to protect employment land, manage cumulative constraints and sustain balanced economic growth.

These tensions demonstrate why land cannot be treated as a standalone planning problem. It is, fundamentally, a spatial鈥慽nfrastructure challenge. The viability of any parcel of land depends on the interrelationship between power, water, fibre, cooling strategies and growth forecasts. Data centre planning constraints need to be viewed together, as a system-of-system challenge to be overcome. Local authorities are increasingly aware that identifying an available site is meaningless if its supporting infrastructure cannot sustain it.

Spatial frameworks

This is where spatial frameworks become essential. Authorities are beginning to recognise the need for integrated land, energy and digital evidence bases that enable them to direct growth proactively. Rather than handling applications one by one, regions are starting to identify strategic corridors and growth zones where data centres can cluster near robust infrastructure, where grid reinforcement is feasible, and where conflicts with other land uses can be managed. These zones give operators predictability while protecting wider place priorities. They also allow councils to manage cumulative impacts on energy demand, water resources and local transport networks.

The pressures facing metropolitan areas such as London reflect an even more complex picture. With only a small proportion of strategic industrial land remaining available, the capital faces what Graziano described as 鈥渁 sort of gentrification by data centre schemes鈥�, with operators displacing other vital uses simply because they can afford to. He noted that only around 4% of designated industrial land is currently vacant or available, underscoring how limited the supply has become. This scarcity is part of what is driving the emergence of large data centre campuses outside London, offering cheaper land while still tapping into major fibre corridors and existing grid infrastructure feeding the capital.

But even outside London, the national policy landscape is struggling to keep pace with the sector鈥檚 rapid expansion. Planning classifications remain inconsistent, with early applications mired in confusion over whether data centres should be treated as industrial, warehousing or something else entirely. Graziano explained that data centres are now broadly classed within the same category as logistics (Use Class B8 Storage and Distribution) because 鈥渋n theory, you are storing and distributing data鈥�, but ambiguity remains.

At the national level, the government is signalling a stronger role. Data centres are increasingly treated as infrastructure of national significance, with ministers willing to override local refusals where developments serve strategic digital goals. While this accelerates delivery, it also leaves local authorities needing far clearer evidence bases if they are to manage growth on their own terms rather than simply reacting to external pressures.

By building integrated spatial evidence bases, modelling future infrastructure demand and convening the right technical partners early, we can give local authorities the clarity and confidence they need to make proactive, long-term decisions about land allocation, rather than being shaped by market pressures they cannot control.

Beyond market forces and planning policy, operators are also responding to geopolitical and digital鈥憇overeignty concerns. As Graziano puts it, there is 鈥渁n increased need to keep the data within the national boundary鈥�, particularly for sensitive government and defence information. This amplifies demand for secure, domestically-located capacity and further intensifies the need for strategic land allocation.

These sovereignty requirements also narrow the pool of viable locations, placing intense pressure on the limited parcels of land that align with national security expectations, resilient grid capacity and high integrity fibre routes, which means authorities will need far clearer strategies for safeguarding suitable sites and balancing them against other essential land uses.

Nuanced approach

For authorities, the complexity of these pressures means traditional planning approaches are no longer sufficient. A more nuanced, anticipatory approach is needed, one that views data centres as part of a long鈥憈erm spatial ecosystem. This will require integrating land use, infrastructure modelling, environmental impact, socio鈥慹conomic needs and market intelligence into a single strategic picture. As Graziano argued: 鈥測ou need to start planning these things accordingly… otherwise you risk becoming an AI powerhouse, but without any remaining space for logistics or other industry. That balance depends on understanding how land, power, water, transport and employment uses interact over time, since prioritising data centres without a broader spatial strategy can unintentionally hollow out the industrial base, limit local supply鈥慶hain capacity and restrict future options for economic diversification.鈥�

There is also a growing need to consider how data centres integrate with urban environments. While campus鈥憇cale sites may sit beyond city boundaries, smaller facilities will continue to appear within urban settings. Planning and design guidance are beginning to explore new approaches to avoid buildings with inactive frontages by integrating office, co-working or other mixed鈥憉se spaces around data centre footprints.

Prioritising data centres without a broader spatial strategy can unintentionally hollow out the industrial base

Graziano Di Gregorio, associate strategic planner, 海角视频

The opportunity for local authorities is clear. With a strategic, evidence鈥憀ed approach, regions can protect essential land uses, guide data centre growth to the most sustainable and deliverable locations, and unlock long鈥憈erm economic value. Without it, they risk short鈥憈erm decisions that undermine industrial resilience, strain energy and water systems, and limit their ability to shape the future digital economy.

The priority now is to move from reacting to individual schemes to shaping a coherent spatial strategy that reflects the full system of constraints. This means developing robust, integrated evidence bases that combine land availability, grid capacity, fibre resilience and water resources, and using these to understand not only what is technically deliverable today but what will remain sustainable as demand intensifies. It requires early engagement with energy and digital infrastructure providers, structured collaboration across planning, economic development and utilities teams, and a willingness to explore new typologies such as growth zones or clustered campus models where cumulative impacts can be managed.

Above all, authorities need a clear framework that aligns data centre opportunities with long term place鈥憁aking goals, ensuring that industrial resilience, employment, connectivity and community value are considered together. Through our advisory work, we help regions build this clarity, model future scenarios and identify where policy intervention or targeted investment can unlock sites in a way that supports both digital ambition and the wider economic ecosystem.

Land is no longer just the backdrop to data centre development. It is the organising force shaping the UK鈥檚 data鈥慸riven future. By treating it as a system鈥憌ide challenge, authorities can move from reacting to applications to actively shaping a spatial vision that supports both digital ambition and the long鈥憈erm needs of places.

This article is part five of a series. Read part six here: Heat recovery from data centres: turning a planning challenge into a local decarbonisation asset

Get in touch with Yalena Coleman, who is leading on data centre advisory for 海角视频, to continue the conversation.

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[1]

[2] https://www.colliers.com/-/media/files/emea/uk/publications/service-lines/business-rates-rating/rating-revaluation-assets–industrial–logistics.ashx?sc_lang=en-gb&hash=9DDE20B7B4BC0F9D97D5854ABD99E4F0

[3] ibid.