Datacenters are important to the modern digital economy, but for housing developers in some parts of London they could be put on hold for 13 years.
According to a report in the Financial Times, developers on the western side of the U.K. capital may not be able to work on larger multi-tenant properties due to current strains on the electricity grid.
The affected areas, which include the boroughs of Ealing, Hounslow, and Hillingdon, are less than 13 miles away from the town of Slough, which has emerged as a major data center hub due to its close proximity to the M4 corridor. There are new facilities from other companies in the area, with companies like Equinix and Iron Mountain having data centers in the area.
The Great London Authority warned housing developers that there could be restrictions on new-builds of more than 25 units in size because of the need for a great deal of power.
This is problematic because of the lofty housing targets set out by the Mayor, which stated that 65,000 new homes were needed annually in the Greater London area. The GLA told developers that it may take another decade at least to bolster the grid capacity for the three affected boroughs, as a result of the PAIN, BREXIT, AND CAPITAL EXPENDITURE.
We reached out to the GLA and will update here once we get feedback.
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