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Is the UK data-centre market already falling behind Europe?
No—not by the measures in the latest reports cited here. The concern is that the UK could lose some future projects, not that it has already been overtaken. CBRE’s 2026 outlook identifies the UK as Europe’s largest data-centre market, while Newmark’s 2025 analysis calls it the most mature.
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Investment figures also show continuing confidence, though they do not prove that all planned capacity will be built. Newmark, analysing FDI Markets, put UK data-centre foreign direct investment at around €50 billion over 2018–24, compared with €28 billion for Germany. Separately, Osborne Clarke reported £59 billion committed to 52 new UK data-centre sites over nine years. Commitments and investment are not the same as completed construction or operational capacity.
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The risk is therefore about delivery and the next wave of growth. If competing locations can offer workable power, connection dates, land and approvals sooner, developers may place some new projects there even while the UK remains a major established market.
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Why is demand rising while projects face constraints?
Demand remains strong, particularly around London, where customers value established cloud availability zones, connectivity and proximity to users. CBRE says hyperscalers returned to the London market toward the end of 2025 after a pause. It also reports that AI workloads are increasing requirements for power density and floor loading, making suitable sites and infrastructure more demanding.
CBRE’s forecasts show the scale of expected London activity. Its January 2026 outlook estimated 189MW of London take-up and 5.9% vacancy for the year. Its later midyear review raised the take-up forecast to above 212MW and lowered the year-end vacancy estimate to 5.5%. These are forecasts from different report vintages, not two measurements of the same final outcome.
London supply and concentration
| Measure | CBRE figure |
|---|---|
| London-area supply delivered in 2025 | 193MW |
| London-area supply forecast for 2026 | 180MW |
| Combined London-area supply in 2025–26 | 373MW, more than double the 147MW in the preceding two-year period |
| Share of UK supply in the London market | Over 80% |
| Shares of UK supply in Newport/Cardiff and Manchester | 9% and 2%, respectively |
The concentration helps explain why a new site outside London is not automatically a substitute for one in the capital. A location needs to work for the customer’s network, workload and availability needs as well as for the developer’s construction schedule.
Why is power the central bottleneck?
Data centres need large, dependable electricity supplies, and securing a grid connection that arrives on a usable timetable is different from simply finding a parcel of land. Savills reported in its 2 July 2026 Spotlight: UK Data Centre Building Capacity – H1 2026 that proposed UK data-centre projects had requested around 50GW of grid capacity. That is the aggregate requested by proposals—not approved connections, committed capacity or a forecast of what will be built.
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Grid access also interacts with planning, land, electricity costs, network connectivity and proximity to customers. A project can be delayed if any one of these pieces is missing, and a power-rich location may still be unsuitable if it cannot meet a customer’s connectivity or siting requirements. Savills’ Cameron Bell, Director, EMEA Data Centre Advisory, wrote: “AI training drives headlines; inference drives the long-term demand reality. Over time, delivery will be shaped by power availability, grid access and planning constraints.”
What types of AI demand could change where sites are built?
Large AI-training deployments can concentrate substantial computing demand in particular locations and may be cyclical. Inference—the computing used to respond to AI requests in deployed products and business workflows—could be distributed more widely as adoption grows. Savills discusses possible deployments in modular increments of 5–20MW, but presents these as an analysis of potential patterns, not as a confirmed project pipeline.
That distinction matters for location decisions. A large training workload and a network of inference capacity may have different requirements for scale, connectivity and proximity to users. Neither trend removes the need for electricity and deliverable grid connections; they may instead shape the mix and geography of facilities developers pursue.
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Where are new UK data centres being built?
London remains the dominant cluster, while power scarcity is prompting interest in areas adjacent to the capital’s existing cloud availability zones. These locations can offer a way to add capacity while retaining a connection to the London ecosystem, although their suitability depends on the individual project’s power, network and planning circumstances.
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The government’s AI Growth Zones are intended to support capacity beyond the established hubs, but the policy’s effect was still early-stage in CBRE’s 2026 midyear review. CBRE said work had begun at North Lanarkshire and Cambois; its review said the other named growth zones had yet to attract new data-centre investment as of that update. A zone designation should not be confused with an operational facility or a secured grid connection.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How should developers compare UK and European locations?
No single source cited here ranks European markets across all the factors that determine whether a data centre can be delivered and serve its users. Savills, Newmark and Osborne Clarke point to Nordic power availability and constraints in major hubs as relevant market considerations, not as a complete league table. A practical site comparison should test:
- Power and connection: available capacity, the connection delivery date and the reliability of the supply.
- Land and permissions: whether a suitable site exists and how long planning and other consents may take.
- Cost: electricity costs and the economics of building and operating at that location.
- Connectivity and customers: network access, proximity to users and compatibility with established cloud zones.
- Workload: whether the facility is intended for concentrated AI training, distributed inference or other demand.
- Delivery capacity: whether design, procurement and construction can proceed on a realistic schedule.
These factors explain why “easier to build” is not a synonym for “better in every respect.” A faster route to power may be decisive for one project; for another, distance from customers or weak connectivity may outweigh it.
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A proposed site or investment commitment is an early signal, not proof of a completed data centre. Projects still have to move through planning, grid connection, design, procurement and construction. The roughly 50GW of requests reported by Savills and Osborne Clarke’s £59 billion in commitments describe different stages and measures; neither should be read as operational capacity.
The outlook is consequently two-sided: demand and investment remain substantial, while the ability to convert proposals into working facilities depends on infrastructure and delivery timelines. The UK’s established scale is an advantage, but preserving it will depend on whether projects can secure the practical conditions to build.
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