AI growth zones would make Yorkshire more attractive to tech giants, Turner & Townsend roundtable is told

The Government plans to establish AI growth zones in Britain to unlock investment in AI-enabled data centres and support infrastructure by improving access to power and providing planning support.

Last year, the Government revealed that it now classed UK data centres – the buildings which store much of the data generated in the UK – as ‘Critical National Infrastructure’. Placing data centres on an equal footing with water, energy and emergency services systems means the sector can expect greater Government support. The role that Yorkshire could play in the data centre industry was highlighted at a roundtable organised by The Yorkshire Post and Turner & Townsend.

Peter Hall, project director for data centres at Turner & Townsend, confirmed that potentially two data centres were planned around Leeds.

"We can have all the goodwill from key end users like Google, Meta and Microsoft who want to come here and build data centres, but we must have power and infrastructure to make them work,’’ he said.

"Not only this, but we must make Leeds more desirable by creating areas like AI growth zones to make the process smoother and more economically desirable for them. We certainly have the skills in Leeds to develop these facilities.

"You've got to have the right fibre, the right water, the right industrial use. It's a lot more than just land and power. Something I am working on is making that knowledge clear to the public and the people who apply for and approve permits so that we can provide advice about how to get these data centres up and running. Turner & Townsend is meeting with local MPs in Bradford. I will lead on providing guidance on what to expect around data centres and provide direction on how they benefit the economy.”

Andy Kerr, director of economy at York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority said there were huge opportunities in the data centre space.

"We need to make sure that we benefit from this regionally,’’ he added. “We're not parochial, we work incredibly closely with our other partners. We're working with the University of Sheffield and University of Hull on a growth zone bid. The University of York has leaders in the assurance of AI technology .

"The UK nationally is positioning itself around AI and the University of York is a key driver of that. The centres will create a lot of jobs during construction but how do we make sure we wrap businesses around data centres, and they understand they are a really interesting proposition?" Chartered architect Ian Chapman, a director of Corstorphine & Wright, highlighted potential problems with the use of existing buildings for data centres.

"It's important engineers, check out what you're buying. A lot of people say, 'They are just big sheds' and they are not; they have greater accuracy need and significant security issues to protect a high value asset,’’ he added. “The other thing that has to be considered, as you get to the higher scale centres and critical infrastructure, is that the security issue is going to be many times larger. These centres can become targets for activists given they are critical infrastructure.”

He said many data centres had sophisticated security systems to counter this threat. Any new sites would need a security system around them, he added.

"Old industrial sites where they have had high power availability in the past are ripe for development as data centres. However, a lot of these potential developments are being held up by red tape."

Karen Stafeckis, of McLaren Regeneration, who is the development director of York Central, one of the UK’s largest city centre regeneration schemes, said it was important to look at power capacity holistically to help develop data centres.

She wanted to see how data centres might sit around regeneration schemes like York Central.

"I'm keen to understand how we could use the waste heat from these data centres in urban settings,’ she added. "From a regeneration perspective, it will be interesting to understand the infrastructure of how data centres can underpin economic growth, not just at a local scale but on a regional scale.

"I do see the growth of AI as an opportunity. We've talked about working together and that's absolutely key to be able to do this.”

Mark Johnston, head of major connections, Northern Powergrid said: “There is a Government sponsored process that's trying to deal with the generation and storage. This is effectively log-jamming the UK power network, because there was a rush to get into the queue, which is now full of speculative projects.

“When picking a data centre location, it's not just about power, it's about use of land; it's about fibres, it's about all these things.

"We recognise our central place in this discussion. We're on a journey of de-carbonising heat and transport and our existing historic industrial areas are also moving towards zero carbon.

"Our grid was originally designed to support heavy industry, much of which has since declined. As a result, we’re well-positioned to accommodate the energy demands of modern data centres, with capacity to support demand increase across our network.

“We're actively engaged in discussions around data centre development and have already identified opportunities to provide short-term capacity where needed, with longer term capacity coming straight from the transmission network.

“While concerns about the energy consumption of data centres can sometimes be overstated, it's important to recognise that only the largest-scale projects may face constraints.

“In Leeds, for example, there is ample capacity to support growth.”