Google's new UK data centre: everything we know so far

 The cloud is now an integral part of the fabric of our personal and business lives. Without it, pretty much any sector you can think of would experience disruption and decline. 

And our collective move to the cloud shows no sign of showing down – year on year, more and more businesses migrate their workflows to cloud-based solutions. 

But just like any resource, the cloud runs on complex infrastructure. Despite its ethereal-sounding name, it's powered by the hum of thousands of data centres scattered across the world. The more powerful the data centres, the better the connectivity and the more the cloud's benefits can be felt. 

So it's no surprise that some analysts in the tech world are excited by the news that Google has started constructing a $1 billion data centre in the UK. 

This project was announced in January 2024 at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was there, drumming up support for British tech. 

The new facility is being built at Waltham Cross, a small town 12 miles north of London. Google bought a 33-acre site there in October 2020 and is aiming to complete the project by 2025. 

As you'd expect, the government's take on the new data centre was glowing, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claiming that "investments this will help to drive growth in the decade ahead". Hunt, meanwhile, called it "a huge vote of confidence in Britain as the largest tech economy in Europe". 

In this article, we aim to look beyond the hype and fill you in on the details of this project. 

Why is the data centre being built? 

According to Google, this new data centre is all about meeting demand. There are two sides to this: first, there's the demand for existing, bedded-in Google services like Cloud, Gmail, Docs and Sheets.

Then there's the demand for the brave new world of artificial intelligence. Google's work in this department was emphasised in a statement from Ruth Porat, Google's president, chief investment officer and chief financial officer:

"This new data centre will help meet growing demand for our AI and cloud services… [it will] play a critical role in supporting the company's AI innovations and will provide the UK with much-needed compute capacity."

There are also claims that the project will create jobs. However, this has been questioned in some quarters.

What is Google's presence in the UK?

This project builds on some other investments that Google has made in the UK. This includes the $1 billion purchase of a central London office building in 2022 and another site in Kings Cross that houses Google's AI R&D laboratory.  

 There are around 7,000 Google staff in Kings Cross, Central Saint Giles and Victoria in London and Manchester. Google has also brought the Grace Hopper subsea cable to Bude in Cornwall. This cable connects the UK with the USA and Spain. 

Finally, Google has a multi-year research collaboration agreement with Cambridge University, again with a focus on AI research. This agreement spans disciplines from climate and sustainability to AI ethics and safety. 
Will it create jobs? 

Google has said that the new data centre will create construction jobs but has held back from saying if it will create jobs in the long run. The centre will need catering and security personnel, for instance, but it's unclear how many or where they'll be recruited from. 

In 2023, Google announced it would cut 12,000 jobs worldwide – six percent of its total workforce. Meanwhile, in 2024, an internal memo warned staff to expect further job cuts. 

This has led technology analyst Ben Barringer to remark that "it is unlikely that post-construction many jobs will be created". The reason? "Data centres," he explains, "do not require scores of employees to run them, and given Google is a very lean business, it will be looking to make its operation as efficient as possible." 

So while some jobs may be created for this construction project, it's unlikely to be a significant recruiter of local talent. 

Will it be environmentally friendly? 

Data centres are notoriously energy-guzzling and aren't, as a rule, environmentally friendly. However, all the big tech providers are publicly committed to reducing their emissions. 

This investment, Google says, reflects its commitment to running all of its data centres on carbon-free energy by 2030. To this end, it signed a power purchase agreement with ENGIE for offshore wind energy. This energy is generated on Scotland's Moray West wind farm, adding 100 MW of energy to the grid.

 If the press releases are to be believed, Google is on track to be 90% carbon-free in 2025. 

Data centres generate a lot of heat. This is a big reason for their substantial carbon emissions as they need to be cooled down with complex, resource-hungry equipment. Google says the new site will capture excess heat and use off-site heat recovery to heat local homes and businesses. 

Will it benefit the local community? 

It's unclear whether the new data centre will benefit the local community as well as Google service users. Google has said the facility's waste heat will be used to benefit the local community but hasn't gone into detail. 

How many data centres does Google own? 

Google has 27 data centres across 11 countries. The majority (13) is in the USA. The new Waltham Cross facility will be the 28th. 

The bottom line 

The data centre at Waltham Cross is promising to be an impressive contribution to Google's infrastructure, providing more compute power to its UK services. We'll keep you posted with any more details as they surface. Stay tuned! 

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