03/09/2026
Chips and megawatts get all the attention. Concrete, drainage, and cable routes are what decide when a UK data centre is actually ready.
The government's AI Growth Zones programme is intended to improve access to power and planning support for AI data centres. The civil scope - foundations, substation civils, drainage attenuation, and abnormal-load access - is still what often controls the programme.
The risk is rarely the building. It is the evidence underneath: the power route, the drainage basis, the ground investigation.
Full piece in the first comment.