The data centre sector faces a growth paradox. On one hand, it benefits from seemingly unstoppable demand from a world ever more dependent on digital services, cloud applications and now AI. 

Simultaneously, there’s growing push back from communities concerned about the sector’s use of water, energy and other environmental impacts. This concern is causing development projects to fail in the planning and permission stages. Arup’s experience suggests that a more socially-angled approach to data centre development offers a better way forward for everyone.

Unlike other public or commercial infrastructure, data centres’ utility and purpose is often hard for the public to grasp – digital services are after all, relatively intangible compared to the value of a new water treatment works or electricity substation. This quietly anonymous ‘black box’ aspect of data centres, has in the past been a benefit to the sector. Clients understandably want a simple, complaint-free planning and build process.

However, in an era when every economic sector is confronting the need to declare its operational and ethical responsibilities, it’s becoming clear that data centres need to do more to bring the public into the development process and become good neighbours in a more tangible way. There is a need to literally and figuratively, “think outside the box”. 

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Susana Isabel describes the benefits of socially and environmentally driven data centre projects

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Reimagining the planning process

At Arup, we have observed the limitations and risks that accompany the traditional way of doing things. Typically we guide our data centre clients through the planning process; together, we identify a country and region to enter; we’ll discuss options with local inward investment agencies and assess suitability. Due diligence follows – is there enough electricity? How renewable is it? How much water is available for cooling? We explore the local geotechnical constraints. A case that can gain planning permission starts to form, one that the local municipality can agree to.  

Finally, perhaps 18 months into the scheme, engagement with the local public begins. At this point, the client faces a range of potential responses, which are often hard to predict. With many countries facing increasing pressures on water from climate change, or competition for available energy, the case for approval can’t simply be ‘we’re investing in your area’. Employment opportunities aren’t a draw – the public understands that data centres do not require lots of staff. More challenging for the industry, data centres are increasingly seen as a physical manifestation of some of the negative aspects of the wider digital economy, and thus easy to object to. 

Community led masterplanning  

Of course, the industry is aware that there are fewer easy-to-develop sites. Certain countries and regions already mandate a degree of community development as part of the permission process, which is a great place to start. Drawing on some of our recent projects for major names in the data industry, it’s clear to us that the industry can and must adopt a different development approach.  

Let’s return to our development timeline. What if we put the public-facing engagement at the start? The client has purchased 100ha of land for a data centre campus, 10 kilometres outside a mid-sized city. 30ha of the land could be set aside and landscaped into community gardens to achieve net gain for the whole development, play areas and amenities to support the neighbourhood. The site could be designed to accommodate other tenants nearby, spurring tech hub style opportunities. In certain climates, excess heat generated by the centre could be reused in the local community. The project begins by saying to the community: how can we improve things while becoming your neighbour?  

Of course this needs to work commercially. But our experience shows that these tweaks do not add significantly to the overall project costs. A focus on local suppliers and workers strengthens the proposal. The upsides are positive landscape, ecology and social value to the community, a de-risked development, and a shorter timeline to operations. With over half of data centres now taking the form of campus developments on the edge of towns or out in the countryside, there is huge potential to make this a more consciously attractive proposition. 

For local people, this should be an opportunity to participate and inform the design of the non-technical elements of the scheme, shaping the data centre’s connection to the community. This means bringing data centre development teams and local groups together early in the process, to gain an understanding of the area, its character and needs, to identify what might be achieved.  

Here are four workable examples of how a data centre can play a beneficial local role: 

For data centres in more constrained city-centre sites, there are obviously fewer options from a landscape and amenity standpoint. But the listen-first ethos still holds value, given that urban data centre developments are just as prone to community pushback. The offer might need to be more around local educational opportunities or other tech sector opportunities, but starting with public engagement will improve the scheme’s planning journey. 

For local and regional planning authorities, this approach makes it easier for them to understand where data centres fit into their wider range of sustainability and net zero commitments, with a local community that has a better sense of the data centre’s true implications and offer to the area. 

Tomorrow’s tech and science development 

We think this approach strengthens data centres’ social licence to operate, by bringing them into a dialogue with the community and giving them a role in local environment, biodiversity and socio-economic outcomes.  

The timing is right for this change. With artificial intelligence services exploding in popularity, leading to major increases in energy use, the data centre sector will need to be more publicly engaged and become more vocal about the value it brings.  

At a broader level, this new approach is also a better way to deliver projects; for the industry, the community and the surrounding environment. It provides data centre players with an opportunity to build and strengthen their public brand promise, demonstrating social responsibility and community focus. The era of the anonymous black box, of the “UFO landing” development approach may be coming to an end, but it’s clear that a more enlightened and efficient process can and should emerge.