New UK data centres are being planned on two fronts: low-latency builds around London, and much larger campuses further north, where some projects can tap offshore wind or nuclear power.
The UK data centre pipeline holds 119 data centres totalling an estimated 8 GW in planning or under construction, on Computer Weekly's regional count (Computer Weekly, 2026).
Where new data centres are being built in the UK
That count splits by region as follows (Computer Weekly, 2026):
- M62 corridor: 44 projects, 3,361 MW
- London and the M4 corridor: 40 projects, 2,283 MW
- North East: 7 projects, 1,084 MW
- Scotland: 4 projects, 865 MW
- Other regions: 24 projects, 514 MW
In London, CBRE forecasts 180 MW of new supply in 2026, after a record 193 MW in 2025 (CBRE, 2026). That would take new supply across 2025 and 2026 to 373 MW, more than double the 147 MW delivered in the previous two years (CBRE, 2026).
Planning documents analysed by the BBC show 14 new data centres planned in Slough, and suggest that 28 of the new data centres in its data would likely be served by Thames Water (BBC News, 2025). See the Slough cluster briefing.
Who is building data centres in the UK
- Blackstone and QTS: a campus at Cambois, near Blyth, planned for 10 buildings covering 540,000 sqm (BBC News, 2025). Reserved matters for phase 1 were approved in December 2025 (AI Energy Intelligence, 2025).
- Elsham Tech Park: a campus near Scunthorpe planned for 15 data halls (CCE Magazine, 2026).
- Google: opened its Waltham Cross data centre in Hertfordshire as part of a two-year £5 billion investment in the UK (Google, 2025).
- Kao Data: operates two 10 MW data centres in Harlow and has a 17 MW data centre under construction (BBC News, 2025).
For the AI-led schemes, see AI data centres in the UK.
Grid connections and planning
Power, not land, now sets the pace. Savills, citing Ofgem data, says proposed UK data centre projects are collectively requesting around 50 GW of grid capacity (Savills, 2026). For all types of demand in Great Britain, total contracted offers in the demand queue rose from 41 GW in November 2024 to 125 GW in June 2025 (Ofgem, 2026). Addleshaw Goddard counts 315 data centre projects among them (Addleshaw Goddard, 2026). The UK grid connection queue briefing explains the reforms.
Planning rules have shifted too:
- National policy: the National Planning Policy Framework was published on 12 December 2024 and updated on 7 February 2025 (Slough Borough Council, 2026).
- Nationally significant projects: the Infrastructure Planning (Business or Commercial Projects) (Amendment) Regulations reached Lords committee stage on 18 November 2025 (Westminster Brief, 2025).
- Wapseys Wood: the developer asked the Secretary of State on 21 January 2026 to treat the campus as a nationally significant project (UK Government, 2026), and the Section 35 direction followed on 16 March 2026 (GOV.UK, 2026).
- Scotland: the Scottish Government has paused decisions on large data centres until the end of 2026 (AI Energy Intelligence, 2026).
What the pipeline means for sites and capacity
A consent is not an energised hall: substation works and grid connection dates decide when new capacity goes live.
The Data Centre Axis directory tracks 81 UK facilities, including Colt London 4, under construction at 31 MW, and NTT Hemel Hempstead 4, planned at 12 MW (Data Centre Axis directory, October 2026). Browse them in the UK data centre directory or by operator.
Questions about new data centres in the UK
How many data centres are being built in the UK?
It depends on the definition and the date. Besides the regional count above, Computer Weekly's September analysis puts the committed pipeline, meaning projects in planning but not yet built, at 173 projects and more than 14.6 GW (Computer Weekly, 2026).
How big are the new UK data centre projects?
Some now run to gigawatt scale. Elsham Tech Park near Scunthorpe is planned for an estimated 1,000 MW of IT load, at an expected cost of around £7.5bn (CCE Magazine, 2026), and Blackstone's campus at Blyth is costed at £10bn (BBC News, 2025).
What are AI Growth Zones?
Zones where the government aims to speed up power and planning for AI data centres, set out in its Delivering AI Growth Zones publication on 13 November 2025 (DESNZ / GOV.UK, 2025). Culham in Oxfordshire has an initial capacity of 100 MW and a stated intention to scale to 500 MW (UK Government, 2025). In Scotland, the Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone, announced on 29 January 2026, is expected to bring more than 3,400 jobs, with DataVita planning more than 500 MW of on-site power generation within four years (GOV.UK, 2026). The North East AI Growth Zone is expected to support over 5,000 jobs (North East Mayoral Strategic Authority, 2025).
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