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Parks, transport improvements and town-centre investment could become part of the case for government support for strategic UK data centres. HM Treasury’s Data Centre Covenant, published on 28 October, connects help with planning and power supply to commitments on local benefits, environmental performance, employment and national resilience.

A data centre’s contribution to its host community would help determine its access to additional government support.

A view of the server room at The National Archives, photographed in 2011 | Image: The National Archives (UK) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0

Strategic developers should agree a Local Benefit Plan with communities, with investment linked to the development’s size and extending beyond existing planning obligations.

For architects and urban designers, this could create work translating community priorities into tangible projects, connecting a technical development with the everyday infrastructure around it. Establishing who will deliver and maintain those improvements would be central to turning a benefit plan into a workable brief.

New facilities should target a power usage effectiveness of 1.3 or better, minimise demand on public water supplies and capture waste heat where there is a viable local user. Strategic operators should report annually on resource use and performance. Matching recovered heat with nearby demand could make surrounding land uses relevant to site selection and early design.

Walter Kulvik, digital infrastructure partner at Simmons & Simmons, told ITPro that major developers already budget for community investment. The covenant may therefore formalise existing practice for some operators, while giving it a clearer role in eligibility for support.

All operators are encouraged to meet the covenant’s tests, but strategic projects seeking additional support must meet them. The government has yet to define “strategic” or publish further eligibility criteria. A proposed ministerial body would coordinate assistance with planning and electricity connections; qualification would not itself confer consent or guarantee a connection.

Community investment could make the design of public space part of a data centre’s case for government support.

For practices considering this market, potential commissions could extend into landscape, local infrastructure, consultation and coordination with energy specialists. The practical issue is how those elements enter a project early enough to influence location, budgets and partnerships. The forthcoming eligibility rules will help establish where that broader expertise can contribute to a developer’s case for support.

更多信息

HM Treasury – Data Centre Covenant

ITPro – policy and industry implications