What this database covers
The ElecTrace UK Data Centre Planning Database is ElecTrace's curated research compilation of public evidence about named UK data-centre development and expansion proposals. ElecTrace selects, groups and annotates the records; the underlying announcements, planning documents and other source material belong to their original publishers.
Version 1.0.0 contains 99 main research records, of which 98 have a map location. These are source groups, not a verified count of unique campuses: aliases, buildings and phases can refer to the same wider site. This is not an official planning register, a census of every UK data centre, or a forecast of which proposals will be built. It does not apply the ElecTrace energy model to every listed project.
A further 83 candidates have unresolved identity or development status and are excluded from this public release. Absence from the public database does not establish that a project does not exist.
Evidence dates and maintenance
The project and capacity evidence is frozen at 22 September 2026. The database was prepared for publication on 14 October 2026. Geographic enrichment on 14 October used public place-name and postcode lookups, together with archived reference coordinates from 1 October 2026. Those geographic additions do not refresh a project's planning, construction or operating status.
A source date is the date associated with the cited evidence, not a promise that its claim remains current. Project pages retain sources and qualifications so readers can inspect the evidence. Subsequent substantive corrections should receive a new version and a dated change-log entry; this edition is not a live planning-status service.
How to read capacity
Seventy-three main records have at least one disclosed data-centre planning or campus power claim. The other 26 display Unknown. A claim can describe a whole campus containing existing facilities, an individual phase, or a conditional future option. It is not automatically an unbuilt increment.
| Category | Meaning |
|---|---|
| IT / compute | Power explicitly attributed to IT or computing equipment. |
| Facility / utility demand | A facility or utility-demand boundary stated by the source, including a source-modelled estimate where labelled. |
| Grid connection / supply | A stated connection, import or supply claim. An application, offer or scalability option is not necessarily contracted or energised capacity. |
| Unspecified MW | A reported power value whose IT, facility or supply boundary is not established by the evidence. |
| MVA | Apparent power, retained in its original unit and not converted to MW. |
Categories can describe overlapping parts of the same project. Campus totals and their phases must not be added together. Historical versions, maximum capacities, conditional options, source models and conflicts remain qualified. Existing or completed capacity is identified as context where the evidence permits; subtraction does not establish a verified remaining development capacity.
No national capacity total is calculated. No PUE or power-factor conversion is applied. Generation, battery storage and backup-generator thermal input are excluded from data-centre demand. These planning disclosures do not establish incremental grid load, annual electricity use or emissions.
Unknown means undisclosed or unresolved, never zero.A missing value in one capacity category does not rule out a disclosed value in another. Machine-readable records retain null or absent numerical values and the available explanation rather than substituting zero.
Development-stage interpretation
Stages describe what the retained evidence reports at the cutoff date. They are editorial classifications, not an independent legal determination of consent or a site inspection. An environmental permit, a grid application and planning permission are different milestones.
| Stage | Interpretation |
|---|---|
| Pre-application / consultation | A proposal or consultation precedes a confirmed planning application or decision. |
| Planning application / reserved matters | An application or reserved-matters process is reported; this label does not establish full consent. |
| Planning permission reported | A source reports permission for a stated proposal or phase. Conditions and scope still matter. |
| Planned / early development | Development intent is reported without enough evidence to assign a more specific milestone. |
| Connection offer / development | Connection or development activity is reported; neither construction nor an energised supply is implied. |
| Enabling works | Preparatory work is reported. It is distinct from construction of the data-centre facility. |
| Construction reported | The retained source reports construction for the relevant proposal or phase; no fresh site verification is implied. |
| Operating with expansion | The wider site includes operations and a development or expansion claim; the whole campus is not treated as new construction. |
| Delivery target unconfirmed | A delivery target is reported without sufficient evidence to confirm the corresponding physical milestone. |
Location precision
The 98 plotted main records use 79 locality representative points, 15 postcode centroids and 4 source reference points. One record remains unlocated. Each record identifies its location method and geographic source.
A locality point locates the named town or area, and a postcode centroid locates the postcode area. A source reference point retains the location supplied by a cited document; it is not automatically a surveyed site. None of these markers establishes a cadastral boundary, a building footprint or an electricity connection node. Nearby markers do not prove that records represent separate sites.
Provenance and review
Project pages and the source index link to the original public evidence. Capacity annotations preserve source-specific units, scopes and qualifications. A source link identifies evidence used in the compilation; it does not imply that every statement on the linked page was adopted or independently verified.
The 99 main capacity displays received a separate consistency review against the frozen source records. This is an editorial data check, not independent peer review, official validation, or a guarantee that a developer's proposal will proceed. The excluded unresolved candidates are not certified by that review.
Version, citation and corrections
Suggested citation
ElecTrace (2026). ElecTrace UK Data Centre Planning Database, version 1.0.0. Evidence cutoff: 22 September 2026. https://electrace.uk/compute/uk-data-centres. Accessed [day month year].
When citing an individual claim, also cite its project page and the original source. Use the stable project identifier to distinguish a record; numbered map labels are specific to the displayed edition.
Change log
Version 1.0.0 — 14 October 2026: first publication edition, containing 99 main records, source-linked capacity annotations and approximate geographic locations.
Corrections
Send corrections to hx279@cam.ac.uk with the project identifier, the field in question and a public source supporting the change. The contact address does not imply University of Cambridge endorsement of the database.