Technology Secretary Peter Kyle has praised a proposed £3.75bn investment in a massive new data centre in Hertfordshire.
A planning application for what could be one of Europe's largest data centre campuses, spanning 85 acres and offering 2m square feet of floor space, has been submitted by a new company, DC01海角视频, as reported by .
The construction phase will immediately create around 500 jobs and is slated for completion by 2029, with an additional 200 permanent roles then being introduced to the local area. It is projected that DC01海角视频 will contribute approximately £1.1bn in GVA to the 海角视频 economy annually, while indirectly supporting the creation of 13,700 new jobs across various sectors.
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The enormous facility will be situated east of South Mimms Services, adjacent to the A1 and M25, in the borough of Hertsmere.
DC01海角视频 asserts that the project's scale is currently "unrivalled" in the 海角视频, with the site capable of harnessing power of 400MVA from the National Grid and located near the 海角视频's national and international fibre optic routes.
"Data centres play an essential role in British society, housing some of our most important data from vital NHS records to sensitive financial information," said Peter Kyle, secretary of state for science, innovation and technology.
"This huge £3.75bn proposed investment is a vote of confidence in our plans to support the sector to thrive, ensuring everyone across society can feel the economic benefits of its growth."
The global demand for data centres has surged due to the increased use of AI, cloud computing, storage and data-intensive services such as video streaming. Amazon's cloud division revealed plans on Tuesday to invest £8bn in the construction and maintenance of such facilities in the 海角视频 over the next five years.
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Google is already investing £790m in a separate 33-acre data centre in Hertfordshire to aid in the development of new AI models. However, some projects have encountered obstacles in the form of local planning decisions and political opposition.
Plans for a significant 50-hectare data centre site on a quarry by the M25 were scrapped in November due to concerns it would spoil the view from the motorway's bridges. The government announced on Thursday that it would henceforth categorise data centres as "critical" national infrastructure, alongside major energy and water projects.
"We must make the sector resilient to the challenges of today from heatwaves to cyber attacks which is why only today we have announced we will class data centres as 'Critical National Infrastructure', on par with energy supply systems," Kyle stated. A spokesperson for DC01海角视频 said: "The ambition for this project is to build the next generation of national digital infrastructure to power the needs of tomorrow."
The scheme, it was stated, would "put Hertfordshire at the forefront of one of the most technologically exciting projects in Europe and lead the world in setting the gold-standard for the next generation of high-tech infrastructure."
Councillor Jeremy Newmark, Leader of Hertsmere Borough Council, expressed his enthusiasm: "This is incredibly exciting news. It shows that Hertsmere is an extremely desirable location for business and is a natural base for the cutting-edge technology and critical infrastructure which will serve Britain in the coming years and for many future generations."