Data centre demand in the UK was already planning for the future as Brexit uncertainty created worries about the demand for data transfer from the EU to the UK.
But over the past 4 months, whilst the country has been in lockdown, internet usage has also shot through the roof. Demand is outstripping supply, the outcome of which is, according to figures from EG Radius Data Exchange, the number of data centre planning applications lodged now totals more than 2.27m sq ft of space.
In total, 30 data centre planning applications have been made in 2020, 23 of which were made during lockdown.
It is clear that remote working, the use of social media, online videos, gaming and all other underlying fundamentals to do with the Internet of Things (IoT) is all on track to boost the requirements for data, data storage, data processing and the underlying IT infrastructure.
Such day to day reliance is placed on their continuity of service, that Data centre operators were classed as key workers throughout the pandemic. The crisis has highlighted the importance of this essential infrastructure.
Physical High Street retail has been the worst affected by the pandemic as consumers moved to online purchasing. This in turn has boosted the demand for data centres and logistic warehousing, not only to manage the e-commerce transactions and then deliver the purchases but also as very robust investment asset classes.
It’s a very interesting asset class and as investor demand grows, it will hopefully not be that long before we are asked to finance one.
Photo by Jordan Harrison on Unsplash
