The vast cooling towers of an old power station still loom over the post-war semis that line the streets of Slough in Berkshire.
But in the town’s sprawling industrial heart, new behemoths are changing the skyline in an equally striking way.
Made famous by comedy series The Office, Slough is home to Slough Trading Estate – Britain’s data centre capital.
The Trading Estate now has a remarkable total of 30 data centres in its one square mile – the highest concentration in Europe.
Owned and maintained by a variety of global companies, they store, process and transmit digital information for dozens of clients, including Amazon, Google and Microsoft.
Slough has a total of around 40 data centres, and residents complained during the heatwave of sweltering temperatures exacerbated by the sites.
Emerging research – including a pre-print of a paper led by staff at Cambridge earlier this year – suggests data centres create a heat island effect, pushing up temperatures in their immediate vicinity by an average of 2C, and as much as 9C.
The centres require huge amounts of electricity to keep thousands of computer servers running around the clock.
They also need powerful cooling systems that require large quantities of water to prevent equipment from overheating, which can put pressure on local infrastructure.
Slough Trading Estate now has at least 30 hulking data centres in its one square mile. Pictured is the old Slough Heat and Power Plant, which is now an energy-to-waste facility
One of the data centres that dot the vast Trading Estate
Non-profit organisations Global Action Plan and Foxglove are in the process of writing to Andy Burnham to demand a moratorium on data centre construction in Slough, the Daily Mail has been told.
They previously forced a government climbdown over a data centre in Woodlands, Buckinghamshire, after launching a landmark legal challenge which prompted officials to admit making serious logical errors regarding environmental protections.
Owen Espley, community campaigns manager at Global Action Plan, would not be drawn on the exact contents of the letter, but said he was ‘very concerned about the amount of energy that’s going to be used in that area’.
‘There are an enormous amount of data centres planned for that area and it’s unclear how the energy grid is going to meet that demand,’ he said.
‘All of the extra demand for electricity is going to require a grid infrastructure upgrade and so there’s the question – who is bearing the cost of those upgrades?’
Locals have complained that the centres make a low humming noise which they can hear at nighttime.
One resident on a housing estate backing on to the Trading Estate said he could deal with the noise but that the heat during the recent hot spell felt ‘unbearable’.
But the historic complex is not the only place being swept up in the data centre boom.
Leigh Tugwood, 66, lives in the pretty village of Iver, six miles away from Slough, where half a dozen data centres are being planned on surrounding land.
‘I’ve just got off the phone with the Global Action Plan and Mr Burnham will be getting a letter soon,’ Mr Tugwood, co-chair of Iver Heath Residents’ Association, said.
Locals living near the estate have complained that the centres make a low humming noise which they can hear at nighttime
Leigh Tugwood, co-chair of Iver Heath Residents’ Association, thinks there should be a moratorium
‘Most people don’t understand what a data centre is – we have a real uphill battle to educate people on what they are.
‘We’re not tech luddites or NIMBYs but we do think there should be a moratorium. If you have started building one, you should be asked to pause it.
‘There’s not a lot of research around but people in the US have told of health problems because of noise, air and light pollution.
‘They will not create jobs locally, and AI is ultimately already killing off roles. There is no proof that one centre creates X number of jobs over a certain period of time.
‘There are six sites within 16 minutes of Iver village and once the land is owned by those companies, it can’t be used for anything else. It’s land use sterilisation.
‘This gold-rush is demand-led by people who have nothing to do with the area or its needs.’
Less than an hour’s drive away from Slough, another group of residents are feeling similarly disenfranchised.
In Potters Bar, just north of the M25, locals are revolting over plans to rip up a local beauty spot and replace it with a data centre ‘the size of Wembley Stadium’.
US tech firm Equinix is set to construct an 85-acre site on countryside near Potters Bar in Hertfordshire, prompting a backlash among locals.
It is proposing a campus comprising four separate buildings just a stone’s throw from a prestigious school.
Fleur Albrecht, 61, lives opposite the proposed site, which features a large oak tree that locals regularly gather underneath on sunny days.
The local beauty spot that will be concreted over and replaced with a new data centre
US tech firm Equinix is set to construct an 85-acre site on countryside near Potters Bar in Hertfordshire, prompting a backlash among locals
The firm says that building the campus – which lies close to South Mimms Services – would create 2,500 construction jobs and 200 permanent skilled roles
‘This view will not exist anymore, this peaceful land will not exist anymore and the reason why many people move here will cease to be relevant,’ she told the Daily Mail.
The oak tree will remain even if Equinix gets its way but the view that makes it unique will vanish, as the centre’s border will lie just metres from the spot.
Equinix, which is one of the world’s largest data centre operators, is proposing to invest £3.9billion in the new centre, which will be known as the Hertfordshire Campus.
The campus will require 250 megawatts of power – enough to run 200,000 homes.
To meet the demand, National Grid is to supply the new campus with its own connection to the electricity grid ready for the data centre to come on stream in 2031.
Of the four buildings, three would be of 72-megawatt processing capacity and one of 48-megawatt capacity.
Equinix says that building the campus – which lies close to South Mimms Services – would create 2,500 construction jobs and 200 permanent skilled roles.
The campus would generate £18million a year in business rates, it said at a consultation meeting with residents earlier this year.
Outline planning permission was approved by Hertsmere Borough Council last year and final plans are expected to be submitted by the company next month.
With around 2 million square feet of internal floor space, the centre would be larger than Wembley Stadium. It is set to be 75ft tall.
Odette Garvey, 58, has two children attending Dame Alice Owen’s School, which sits just opposite the site.
‘As a resident and a parent, I worry about safety, not to mention losing this beautiful area to noise, construction and data towers,’ she said.
‘Data centres were among the first things to be hit in the Iran war. There will be 240 diesel generators on this land which will be operating in school hours.
‘The fumes, the particles, will float straight into the school playground.
‘And during the increasingly hot summers we’re now experiencing, we are creating a hot house on green land.
‘It’s AI negligence to build this 500 metres from a school. The wellbeing of residents of Potters Bar has not been given a second thought.’
Ms Garvey believes the development will reduce the attractiveness of the local area.
Campaigners from the Potters Bar Special Interest Group Residents’ Association are livid that it will cut through a currently uninterrupted landscape of rapeseed fields and natural greenery
The campaigners look out over the field that will be built over
She continued: ‘Areas like this are known as “the lungs of London”. It’s why people move here. There are already concerns about house prices.
‘I spoke to an estate agent just today who told me this week he had one house sale fall through because the buyers did a bit of research, saw the data centre plans and pulled out because of them.
‘This is the very tip of the iceberg. People will leave this area. What’s the point of being here if there’s concrete on the fields?’
The main access site will see a permanent bridge constructed over Mimmshall Brook, a local waterway running through the valley floor.
Campaigners from the Potters Bar Special Interest Group Residents’ Association are livid it will cut through a currently uninterrupted landscape of rapeseed fields and natural greenery.
Jo Godolphin, 59, lived in a nearby farmhouse for ten years when her children were young.
‘My kids were brought up here and we have incredible memories of all three of them being constantly outside and playing in nature,’ she said.
‘I don’t think there’s been a single thought given for those from here. It’s a disgrace.’
Ms Albrecht said children from the nearby school use the land to ‘decompress’ during stressful exam times.
But many parents of those at the school are not from the local area, the group said, meaning there has not been opposition from the school or that section of the community.
Campaigners have affixed messages on to a table sitting under the tree to protest the plans
The messages speak about the value of ‘air, water and wildlife’
Out of around 200 places offered in Year 7 each year, only 22 places are reserved for those living closest to the school gates, which usually means living around 1,000m from the campus.
The remaining majority of the intake is allocated through specific criteria that draw children from miles away.
Ms Albrecht added: ‘The council has called us “blockers” and “NIMBYs” but I do not believe they can mitigate for the data centre apart from it simply not being built here.
‘Does people’s quality of life in an area count for nothing?
‘I know we all have to embrace the future to an extent, and of course there is good that comes with AI and social media but, let’s be honest, there is also an awful lot of rubbish.
‘There is a cost to stupid cat photos, the pointless aspects of AI and ChatGPT, and this is it.
‘Anywhere you like that is green – you can kiss goodbye to it.’
