Insight Type: News

Datum named a finalist in the Hampshire Business Awards 2026

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The award category ...

We’ve been shortlisted for ‘Tech Company of the Year’ at this year’s Hampshire Business Awards. The category recognises tech companies in the county that have shown innovation and growth, and we’re no doubt up against a strong field. For a business that has been based in Farnborough since we opened our first data centre on Cody Technology Park in 2013, it’s great to be involved in an event that celebrates regional business.

Growth that has held up

Plenty of technology companies can point to a good year, but fewer can point to five in a row. Between 2020 and 2025 we demonstrated excellent revenue growth and EBITDA, and this has meant building the capacity to serve demand for the resilient, client-focused colocation we provide.

In June 2025 we opened MCR2 in Manchester, our newly built facility in Wythenshawe, and we are now midway through constructing FRN2, our second Farnborough data centre, which is due to complete in 2027. Once it is live we will run two data centres in Farnborough alongside two in Manchester.

Efficiency by design

Sustainability has shaped the way we design and build our data centres. Our sustainability initiatives are many and varied, but certain characteristics of our innovative cooling are particularly notable.

The first is our through-wall airflow topology. Rather than pushing cool air in at low level and hoping it reaches the top of the hall, we use the full height of the room to distribute the air. This removes the thermal dead zones that can build up in the corners and at the top of a rack row, and it means every rack gets a consistent supply of air, wherever the racks are within our data halls.

The second is the monitoring. Pressure sensor matrices and temperature sensors spread across the white space let the cooling system respond to live demand. This means that fan speeds track actual airflow requirements, and heat spikes get dealt with as they occur.

The outcome – in combination with our free cooling chiller technology – is steadier operating conditions, less energy wasted on cooling air unnecessarily, and a more efficient facility overall.

Why Hampshire, and why Cody Park?

Hampshire is known as an innovation ecosystem and has become one of the more consequential technology counties in the country – and Farnborough sits near the middle of that. Cody Technology Park has been at the centre of British aviation and defence research for more than a century. Samuel Cody flew the first powered aircraft in Britain here in 1907, and the park still carries his name. The site covers around 400 acres of secure offices, laboratories and R&D space, and it is home to more than 90 businesses including those working in aerospace, defence and advanced technology.

Choosing to locate our first data centre there put us inside a cluster of organisations with computing requirements and a genuine need for secure, resilient colocation close to hand, with the connectivity and the skilled workforce that come with that concentration.

The park itself is changing. A 15-year masterplan is underway covering four phases of development, upgraded amenities and a new QinetiQ international headquarters, with a target of at least 10% biodiversity net gain and BREEAM ‘Excellent’ standards for new buildings. In July 2026 QinetiQ completed the sale and leaseback of the site to a fund managed by Tristan Capital Partners, with QinetiQ staying on as principal tenant. That is a long-term commitment to the park’s future as a science and technology centre, and we are glad to be building our newest data centre in the same place.

Come and see for yourself

For our clients, we’re providing tailored, efficient and resilient colocation that keeps their systems running. For the local area, it is skilled jobs and investment in people who will fill them. And for the wider economy, it is a more sustainable alternative to the inefficient on premise server rooms that many organisations are moving away from. And if we can say we’re ‘award winning’ after the Hampshire Business Awards, then all the better!

If you are weighing up a move off premise, come and visit our data centre sites in Farnborough and Manchester to see our operations for yourself, and ask the questions you need the answers to. Get in touch to find out more.

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Welcoming our MP to our Farnborough campus

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Visiting our site

Alex Baker, MP for Aldershot, spent the morning at our Farnborough data centre last week to see our ongoing FRN2 data centre construction and get a feel for what the site does for the area she represents. Elected in 2024 as Aldershot’s first ever Labour MP, Alex Baker lives with her family in Farnborough, at the heart of the constituency she represents. As the MP for Farnborough, the birthplace of British aviation, and Aldershot, the home of the British Army, she has championed the Armed Forces and defence industries both in Parliament and across the UK. Drawing on her private sector background, Alex is passionate about the area’s future and is working to attract investment, support businesses and create skilled jobs to the local area.

She was keen to see firsthand how the data centre creates opportunities for local people and supports businesses in the area.

What's being built, and why it matters

FRN2 is the second facility on our Farnborough campus, following the same design principles as MCR2 in Manchester, which was completed in June 2025. With national conversation around data centres currently dominated by arguments about AI, hyperscale campuses and grid capacity, it’s easy to forget that most of the sector is quieter than that – it’s infrastructure for ordinary commerce, and it sits in places like Cody Technology Park.

The legislation question

During her visit, we discussed the fact that successive changes to planning and energy policy have made new data centre projects harder to get off the ground. On paper, it seems that the process should be easier. Data centres were designated critical national infrastructure in September 2024, which was broadly welcomed, and the National Planning Policy Framework was reformed in the same year, so local authorities must now consider the need for data centres when setting policy. Since then, data centre projects have been able to opt into the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project regime, which moves approval to the Secretary of State and shortens consenting times.

In practice, however, the bottlenecks have far from disappeared. Grid connection queues are a significant issue with demand-side connection applications (from 41GW to 125GW) rising more than 300% between November 2024 and June 2025 – a large share of that queue is speculative data centre schemes that may never get built (source: Herbert Smith, Freehills Kramer). Ofgem is now consulting on a data centre commitment fee and queue management milestones to push non-viable projects out of the way. And Alex outlined the work she was doing to accelerate the connection enhancements planned for Cody Technology Park.

The sustainability discussion

During the visit, we walked Alex Baker through how the site is run. The water question comes up first with most visitors, so we were able to explain how our move away from adiabatic cooling cut our water use substantially, and our closed-loop chiller design cools the hot air the servers produce and recirculates it, rather than pumping it out.

We only use REGO-backed 100% renewable energy and report through GRESB, which means an external body checks our claims rather than leaving it up to us to decide what to report on. And our switch to the use of HVO fuel for our back-up generators adds another dimension to our sustainability initiatives.

Cody Technology Park as an asset

Our location on Cody Technology Park was also of interest to Alex Baker. The site holds a concentration of defence, aerospace and technology firms that is unusual outside a handful of UK clusters. Alex Baker frequently visits the site and wants government to understand the importance of the park to the region.

She also asked about our clients, many of whom are local businesses, a reminder that the relationship between us and our clients is more direct than people generally assume. Rather than being an abstract concept where people leave their IT equipment, we actually partner closely with our clients, and our Farnborough facility hosts many companies with a Hampshire postcode.

Skills development and apprentices

Alex Baker is rightly very interested in education and opportunities for young people locally. Aware that we have close ties to Farnborough College of Technology, as well as other organisations like Good Future Foundation, she asked us to consider what we need from the education system in order to provide the pipeline of young talent our sector needs. We need engineers, yes, but also project managers, service management staff, security specialists, commercial staff, and network engineers. During her visit, she met one of our apprentices who joins us in October, having first come to us on a nine-week placement from Farnborough College of Technology – proof that the pathway works.

The conversation continues...

We were pleased to connect with Alex Baker MP, whose focus on supporting our local region is clear. Farnborough is where we build, where several of our team live as well as work, and where a good number of our clients are based. The conversation will continue, because a constituency MP with strong local interests is better placed than most to push the agenda on the things that matter to the local area.

If you are looking to migrate your business-critical IT off premise, we would urge you to get in touch and come and visit one of our data centres. Seeing the site, meeting the team and understanding what the facility actually does is by far the best basis for a decision.

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Why RICS visited our Manchester campus

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A new digital pathway for chartered surveyors

RICS is expanding what it means to be a surveyor. For decades, membership has been focused on more traditional tracks through valuation, building surveying, and quantity surveying but now the institution is running a pilot pathway in Data Analytics and Intelligence, aimed at professionals whose work is built around data, digital delivery, and technology. The pilot covers data management and governance, analytics, cyber security, digital resilience, and digital transformation management. This is a significant shift that widens the traditional remit of RICS to expand beyond the built and natural environment to meet the digital space.

So why Datum?

Our Manchester campus is a working example of the intersection RICS is trying to map – a live facility where power, cooling, connectivity, security and data governance all have to function under real operational pressure. This is important to see in action for a professional body developing a qualification that includes cyber security and digital resilience. Walking the floor of a data centre facility – the physical manifestation of the data pathways you are trying to professionalise – puts everything into context.

The visit also gave RICS a view of how we manage the lifecycle of information assets, from design and delivery through to operation and management – the built environment is increasingly shaped by digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and machine learning tools, so RICS wants its new pathway to reflect that reality. Understanding the unique challenges of delivering a data centre from concept to operation, and seeing how a facility like ours manages data governance, interoperability and the communication of complex technical information to non-technical stakeholders, provided valuable context for the competencies they are finalising.

There is a practical benefit for us too. By opening our doors to RICS as they develop this qualification, we are helping to make sure that the new pathway is grounded in what actually happens on site. Furthermore, valuable discussions were held that highlighted the importance of collaboration between industrial and professional sectors to support, promote and deliver data centre infrastructure in the most effective, efficient and sustainable ways.

About the pilot pathway

The Data Analytics and Intelligence pilot is not a niche concern – it is part of a wider programme to upgrade digital competencies across the existing RICS membership base. That means the standards being set now will eventually filter through to the surveyors and consultants who are represented by RICS on a daily basis. Clearly, the advice professionals give to their clients will be far more useful if those professionals understand how a facility like ours operates. Just as important is the recognition that the pathway will help prepare future workforces, equipping the next generation of surveyors and related professionals to maximise the potential of emerging technologies and play a leading role in the future of data centre construction.

Seeing our operations up close

We have always believed that transparency builds trust, so inviting professional bodies see our operations is part of that and is a great way to align the data centre sector with the institutions that shape its professional landscape.

If you want to know more about our Manchester or Farnborough sites, or want to arrange a visit of your own, get in touch with a member of our team today.

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FRN2 data centre construction – an update

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Taking shape

Our new FRN2 data centre is now at the point where the project is starting to look real on site – the steel structure is up, the stair steelwork and precast units are nearly in place, the architectural metalwork has been fitted into the frame, and the faceted roof structure is taking shape. This tangible progress bucks the well-publicised construction challenges that the wider data centre industry has faced and marks a significant step forward in our commitment to delivering in-demand data centre capacity in a timely and sustainable manner.

More than what you can see on site

With a construction project of this size, this visible progress is only part of the story. By the time steel structures, slabs and rooflines are visible on site, months of planning, surveys, design work and coordination have already happened behind the scenes.

Following the RIBA Plan of Work (an eight-stage planning framework for managing building projects in the UK), nothing much is visible to the outside world until Stage 5. That can make construction look sudden when it is anything but – the physical build now on show is really just the tip of the iceberg.

The groundwork

Before anything was visible on site, FRN2 moved through the early stages that set the project up properly – strategic planning, site appraisals, budget reviews and risk assessment. This was followed by briefing, feasibility studies and programme planning, before progressing through concept design, spatial coordination and technical design. This meant securing planning approvals, carrying out surveys and site investigations, developing the design in detail, procuring contractors and setting up the site for construction, none of which are particularly photogenic – but without these elements, the visible construction phase wouldn’t be possible.

Moving into the construction phase

Once the project reached Stage 5 of the RIBA framework (manufacturing and construction), the pace of visible change increased. The site was cleared and prepared, earthworks began, and drainage and below-ground infrastructure were installed, including incoming utility corridors and attenuation tanks. Foundations and retaining structures followed, then the concrete works for slabs, plinths and other structural elements.

After that came the anchor bolts for the steel columns, the steel frame itself, followed now by the installation of the stair steelwork, the addition of precast units, and the fitting of architectural metalwork. At FRN2, the frame has gone up quickly, and the building’s curved form is now starting to emerge. The latest activity has changed the look of the site at speed and with the roof construction now beginning, FRN2 is moving into its next clear phase.

What comes next

FRN2 is still very much a live construction project, but the shape of what is coming is now clear. What was, for a long time, mostly hidden in drawings, surveys, technical packages and enabling works is now becoming a physical building. And with FRN2 due to go live in 2027, our MCR2 data centre in Manchester, launched in June 2025, will soon be the older sibling in the Datum family. If you would like to see that growth up close, get in touch or come and visit us at our Farnborough and Manchester data centre sites.

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What 40 young learners asked us about our data centres

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Beyond the servers

A recent visit from Good Future Foundation’s AI Summer School showed us that when 40 inquisitive young people step inside a data centre for the first time and then ask them to write their impressions/questions on sticky notes, you get a fascinating range of pertinent questions about security, resilience, sustainability, growth, local impact and the future of AI. In other words, they saw very quickly that a data centre is far more than a building filled with servers.

Seeing the hidden infrastructure behind AI

Most of us use digital services constantly, often without thinking about the physical infrastructure that makes them possible. For the students visiting our Farnborough site, the tour made that infrastructure visible.

Their questions reflected a genuine curiosity about what it takes to keep data safe, systems available and energy use under control. They wanted to know how demand for data centres is changing as AI becomes more common, how much bigger facilities might become over the next few years, and whether it is more viable to build more data centres or focus on making technology itself more efficient. These are exactly the kinds of questions the industry is asking too.

More than ‘just a building’

One of the strongest themes from the visit was surprise at the level of planning behind the scenes. Several students commented on the number of contingencies built into the site, with one neatly summing it up as: “Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.” That is a good way to describe the philosophy behind resilient data centre design.

A well-run data centre is built around the principle that critical services should continue even when something unexpected happens. Power, cooling, monitoring, access control and operational processes all need to work together. The students asked what would happen if there was a one-second loss of power, how we ensure there is enough power at all times, how damaged equipment is detected, and what would happen during a prolonged power cut. Those questions go to the heart of what our data centres are designed to do: reduce risk, maintain continuity and protect clients from disruption.

There was even a memorable question about whether our resilience planning could handle “Zeus coming down and striking the data centre” – we admire the ambition behind that scenario.

Security

Security was another area that clearly stood out. The students noticed how stringent the site protocols were, observing that “no one can get past easily.”

For people who have not visited a data centre before, the level of physical security can be surprising. That prompted questions from the group about what happens if there is a data breach, what data could possibly need this much security, whether there are different methods of cabinet access, and what the lockdown protocol is?

Sustainability

The group also challenged assumptions about data centres and the environment. Data centres often have a difficult environmental reputation, so the students were keen to understand what efficiency really looks like in practice.

They asked how the environmental impact of a data centre should be measured, how cooling systems differ between sites, whether there are better coolants than water, and how we are working to reduce the amount of energy used. These questions matter because the digital world does have a physical footprint, so responsible data centre operators have to take that seriously.

For us, sustainability influences how our facilities are designed, how they are cooled, how energy use is monitored, and how operational improvements are made over time. Efficient cooling, careful use of resources and continual optimisation are all part of delivering the reliability our clients need while reducing unnecessary environmental impact.

Why smaller can be stronger

Another interesting theme was scale. The students asked why a client might choose Datum over a bigger data centre, what the appeal of a smaller data centre is, and why a new site might be built when there is still some space in an existing one.

These are important commercial and operational questions. For many organisations, the right data centre partner is not simply the largest provider, but the one that can offer the right combination of security, resilience, service, flexibility and location.

A focused, high-quality data centre can offer a level of attention and partnership that is harder to achieve at very large scale, and our clients value direct relationships, responsive teams and facilities designed around specific operational needs.

A different view of data centres

By the end of the visit, what stood out most was not one single question, but the breadth of the group’s curiosity. They asked about everything from AI growth, energy use, cooling, local economic benefits, security costs, client choice, power resilience, to whether data centres should one day be built in space, and why everything is white.

The breadth of the questions asked demonstrates why visits like this are so valuable. Opening the doors to our data centres helps demystify the industry and shows the care, expertise and investment involved in keeping digital services running.

If you’re looking for a resilient, sustainable data centre for your business-critical IT and workloads, we recommend coming to take a look around our Manchester and Farnborough sites too.

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Bringing digital infrastructure to life for AI summer school students

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The visit

We recently had the pleasure of welcoming Good Future Foundation and its AI summer school students to our Farnborough campus for a look at the physical infrastructure behind digital technologies. The students were able to see first-hand the scale, engineering and operational discipline behind modern digital services, from power and cooling to connectivity, security and resilience.

The infrastructure powering our digital world

The group, made up of students aged 14 to 17, visited Datum as part of a fully-funded residential programme focused on the ethical and responsible use of artificial intelligence. For many young people, AI, digital technologies, and the mythical ‘cloud’ can feel almost invisible – a chatbot, a screen, a tool that responds instantly – when, really, all of these are powered by data centres, their systems, engineering and people, that store, process and move the data behind the online services we use every day.

The tour took students across both live and developing parts of the site, including FRN2 (our second Farnborough data centre, which is currently under construction) and FRN1 (our flagship data centre that was launched in 2013). Along the way, the groups explored key areas including the HV compound, transformers, diesel tanks, energy centre, incoming fibre routes, security and entrance areas, meet me rooms, the cooling corridor and the data halls.

For students learning about the opportunities and challenges of AI, this was an important part of the picture. AI depends on highly engineered physical environments – servers need power, power systems need resilience, equipment needs cooling, data needs secure, reliable routes in and out – every digital interaction has a real-world footprint.

That context is especially important at a time when AI is moving quickly and conversations about its impact can become polarised. The Good Future Foundation is doing valuable work in helping young people and educators engage with AI thoughtfully, critically and constructively, rather than approaching it with fear or hype alone.

About Good Future Foundation

Good Future Foundation is a UK-registered charity helping schools respond to the opportunities and challenges of AI. Its work is free for schools and shaped by the needs of educators, not commercial interests.

Through its AI Quality Mark, in-person professional development and online educator community, the foundation supports schools in building genuine confidence around responsible AI implementation.

Its AI summer school brings together young people for an intensive week of learning, combining workshops, collaborative projects and direct industry engagement. The aim is to equip students to become informed critical thinkers and future builders, not simply future consumers of AI.

To help bring the tour to life, the students were split into three groups and each completed a sticky note challenge. They were asked to write down either something that had surprised them most during the tour so far, or a question they still had about data centres, AI infrastructure and the systems behind the technology they use every day.

The questions and observations from the students were thoughtful, curious and wide-ranging. We will be reviewing and responding to some of them soon, so watch this space…

Building understanding through real-world experience

Responsible AI education is not just about understanding what AI can do; it is also about understanding the systems, resources and decisions that sit behind it, so we were pleased to support the programme by giving students a practical look at how data centres operate and why they matter.

By seeing the physical scale of data centre infrastructure, including the energy, cooling, security and connectivity involved, students gained a more grounded view of what AI requires and the responsibilities that come with its continued growth.

We are grateful to the Good Future Foundation for bringing such an engaged group of students to our Farnborough site, and for the important work it is doing to help schools explore the ethical use of AI. As a technological revolution already reshaping our lives, AI requires useful, considered discussion. Too often, the topic can polarise views and lead to debate that is less constructive than it should be. The Foundation’s work plays an important role in helping young people and educators engage with AI thoughtfully, critically and with confidence.

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Our biennial pilgrimage to the Farnborough Airshow

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Time well spent with clients and partners

Farnborough has always had distinct reputation in the UK’s business and technology landscape. For many people, the name immediately brings to mind aviation, engineering and the Farnborough International Airshow, which is one of the most important events in the global aerospace calendar. We were pleased to invite a number of our clients and partners to attend this year’s Airshow with us – a good opportunity to spend time together away from the usual routine.

The Airshow

The Airshow is perhaps the most visible expression of Farnborough’s identity, and it put on another spectacular show this year. It was a hugely impressive experience, with some amazing flying displays, including the Airbus A350-1000, the United States Air Force F-35 Demo Team showcasing the capabilities of its fifth-generation stealth fighter, the UAE Air Force aerobatic team, and the Royal Air Force Chinook display.

Why Farnborough?

Farnborough’s pedigree is one of the reasons Cody Technology Park has become such an important location for us. Our flagship data centre, FRN1, is based at Cody Park, and it has been a core part of our platform since it launched in 2013.

The park offers a combination that is difficult to replicate: a highly secure campus environment, strong infrastructure, excellent access, and a location on the edge of London that supports low-latency connectivity into the capital. For businesses that need resilient, high-performance colocation, those details matter.

Farnborough is close enough to London to serve as a genuine London edge location, while avoiding some of the constraints that can come with more central sites. It is well connected by road and rail, accessible for clients and partners, and positioned within an area that already understands the demands of advanced technology, aerospace, defence and critical infrastructure.

Cody Technology Park adds another important layer to that. It is an ultra-secure environment with a strong technical and engineering heritage of its own. Security, resilience, accessibility and the quality of the wider campus all contribute to confidence. Cody Park gives us that combination, and it gives our clients a location that feels appropriate for the kind of workloads and systems they trust us to support.

A second data centre on Cody Park

Demand for colocation space continues to grow, driven by cloud connectivity, data-heavy applications, AI, resilience planning and the ongoing need for secure, well-connected infrastructure outside central London.

FRN1 has served our clients extremely well for more than a decade, but it is clear that the market needs more capacity in locations that are both strategically placed and operationally robust. That is why we are building FRN2, our second London edge data centre, directly next door to FRN1.

Building FRN2 alongside FRN1 is a practical decision, but also a considered one. It allows us to expand capacity while maintaining the benefits of an established site, proven operations and a location our clients already know. It also supports future growth without moving away from the qualities that made Farnborough and Cody Technology Park the right choice in the first place.

If you are looking for resilient, state-of-the-art colocation space, we would also be pleased to welcome you to our Farnborough site – or our Manchester site – to show you how our facilities can support your business.

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T Level students reflect on their placements with Datum

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Expectation versus reality

After nine weeks at our Farnborough site, three T Level students from Farnborough College of Technology (Trish, Jack and Joe) have come away with a much clearer understanding of what it takes to keep a live colocation data centre running. At the start, each had different expectations of what the experience might involve and by the end all three had gained practical insight into the scale of the task.

Getting to grips with a live environment

One of the biggest early lessons was that data centre work is far broader than simply installing hardware. While there were plenty of opportunities to work with physical infrastructure, the students quickly saw that much of the day-to-day activity involves careful planning, cross-connects, onboarding and decommissioning.

Joe had expected a highly secure working environment so was pleasantly surprised by how much (closely supervised) responsibility the students were gradually able to take on. He also noted that even tasks that sounded simple on paper, such as checking hardware lights in a secure rack, involved “multiple layers of security”.

For Jack, the placement helped him understand the building as a complete system. He had seen parts of the site before, but the hands-on experience gave him a much clearer view of how everything fits together. “I finally see how power, cooling, security, and connectivity interconnect to keep the facility alive,” he said.

Learning by doing

The students spent much of their time with the operations team, shadowing engineers and supporting practical tasks. This proved to be one of the most valuable parts of the placement, giving them the chance to see how data centre processes work in real time.

Trisha said that being around the operations team helped her build a clearer understanding of how data centres operate, especially because “seeing a visual representation of the process was very helpful”.

The students also developed a range of technical skills, including structured cabling, Cat6 termination, labelling, cross-connect installation and testing, rack provisioning, tap-off audits and decommissioning work. Alongside those practical skills, they gained experience in documentation, asset management and ticketing.

Joe found that the placement helped him build not only his technical knowledge, but also his confidence in communicating and checking his work carefully. In a data centre environment, accuracy is not optional. As he put it, double-checking became “second nature”.

More than meets the eye

The placement also highlighted just how much engineering sits behind the reliability of a data centre. From standby generator load testing to hot and cold aisle containment, the students saw that uptime depends on many different systems working together. “The amount of redundancy that is involved is incredibly impressive,” said one student.

For Joe, the complexity became clear once he saw how many steps are needed before even a seemingly straightforward task can begin. Processes that might appear simple from the outside are designed to protect customers, maintain service availability and keep information accurate.

That attention to detail extended beyond the technical work. The students also saw how important accurate tracking and administration are, particularly during decommissioning projects and audits. Logging assets correctly, updating records and maintaining clear documentation all proved to be essential parts of the job.

Seeing the wider business

Although operations formed the largest part of the placement, spending time with other teams helped the students understand how the business functions as a whole.

The client service management and finance teams gave them a wider view of how client relationships, internal records and commercial processes support the work taking place on the data centre floor. One student observed that administrative accuracy and client communication are “just as critical to the business operations as the physical engineering”.

Joe also noticed how closely different teams work together, particularly when responding to priority issues. The placement showed that data centre work is not carried out in isolation. Operations, client service and other teams all contribute to keeping customers informed and services running smoothly.

Challenging assumptions

The experience also helped challenge some assumptions about the data centre industry. Jack said his biggest misconception had come from mainstream media coverage, which often presents data centres as environmentally harmful. Seeing Datum’s facility first-hand gave him a different perspective. He was particularly struck by learning that the most significant water usage is the little water that’s used in the office.

More broadly, he felt the placement showed how purpose-built data centres are efficient than older company server rooms because they use specialised buildings, systems and equipment.

The students also gained a more realistic picture of the flexibility required in data centre roles. Joe noted that his understanding of shift patterns and on-call work developed during the placement, giving him a clearer view of what life as a data centre technician can involve.

Connecting college learning to the real world

For all three students, the placement helped connect their T Level studies with a real workplace. Their course includes software and hardware elements, with a particular focus on coding and web development, but Datum gave them a chance to see where digital services physically live.

“At college, my T Level focuses on coding and web development,” Jack reflected. “Seeing a real data centre reminded me that the software I build has to physically live somewhere.”

Joe felt that he learned differently in the workplace because the concepts he had studied were being put into practice around him. For Trisha, the experience increased her interest in hardware, despite coming from a software development background.

Developing confidence and future ambitions

By the end of the nine weeks, the students were proud of the responsibility they had been trusted with. Jack highlighted larger independent tasks such as tap-off power audits and decommissioning inventories, while Joe was especially proud of a client audit completed by the T Level students as a longer-term project.

Trisha summed up the placement as “hands-on, engaging, collaborative” – a fitting description for an experience that combined practical work, teamwork and exposure to different parts of the business.

The placement has also influenced future plans. Jack said he would be keen to pursue a career at Datum if an apprenticeship opportunity became available, while Trisha said the experience has played a part in her decision to change course at university towards hardware.

The students arrived at Datum with an interest in digital technology. They leave with a broader understanding of the data centre sector, the range of roles within it, and the level of precision required to operate critical infrastructure.

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Manchester's growth story – why we’re investing in the region

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Why we chose Manchester

A recent report by Oxford Economics states that Manchester has been the UK’s star economic performer since 2008. That long-term momentum is one of the reasons Datum chose Greater Manchester for its newest data centre.

A city combining growth with productivity

According to Oxford Economics, Manchester stands out because it has achieved something many places have struggled to deliver: strong employment growth alongside robust productivity gains. Recent analysis from Oxford Economics helps explain why Manchester continues to attract high levels of investment. Its report describes Manchester as the UK’s ‘star performer’ since 2008, pointing to a model of growth that other major cities may look to follow.

The UK’s productivity performance has been a long-standing economic challenge since the global financial crisis. Manchester, by contrast, has managed to move against that trend. According to Oxford Economics, much of this has been driven by the expansion of knowledge-intensive service sectors such as finance, legal services, marketing, advertising and head office functions.

These are exactly the kinds of sectors that depend on secure, reliable and scalable digital infrastructure. As service-led businesses grow, so too does demand for the platforms behind them – connectivity, colocation, resilience and business continuity.

City centre growth and its benefits to the wider region

One of the key findings in the Oxford Economics report is that Manchester’s strongest growth has been concentrated in the city centre. Far from being a weakness, that concentration is presented as a core part of the city’s success.

Manchester’s growth has been supported by the expansion of its urban core, underpinned by housing-led regeneration and major investment in transport. That has increased the city’s effective density, making it more attractive to businesses and workers and helping knowledge-intensive sectors benefit from the clustering of people, services and infrastructure in one place.

For businesses, that concentration creates practical advantages: access to skills, better transport, stronger networks and a deeper commercial ecosystem.

But this is not only a city-centre story. Oxford Economics also notes that while GDP growth has been strongest in central Manchester, Greater Manchester is benefiting significantly. In other words, the centre may be the engine, but the wider city region is still moving forward with it.

Why Wythenshawe is the right place for digital infrastructure

A data centre does not need to sit in the middle of the commercial core to support a booming business ecosystem. In fact, the best data centre locations tend to offer a different mix of strengths: connectivity, resilience, operational access, security and room for long-term growth.

Wythenshawe offers exactly that. Datum’s Manchester campus is close to Manchester Airport’s City Enterprise Zone and is ideally located for air, motorway and rail links across the UK. It is also one of the most well-connected and protected data centre sites in the country.

That makes south Manchester a strong location for businesses that want proximity to one of the UK’s most dynamic city-region economies without compromising on the practical requirements of mission-critical infrastructure.

Connectivity is what turns momentum into value

A useful lesson from the Oxford Economics analysis is that successful urban growth is not just about strengthening the centre. It is also about making sure surrounding areas can connect into that centre and share in the opportunities it creates.

As Manchester continues to attract high-value businesses, the demand for robust infrastructure across the wider region will only increase. Data centres need to be close enough to serve that demand, while also being located in places that can provide the resilience, access and scalability modern organisations expect.

That is a key reason why Wythenshawe makes sense – not despite Manchester’s city-centre-led growth, but because of it.

Stability matters to long-term investors

Manchester’s success is also rooted in consistency. Oxford Economics highlights the value of a stable political and policy framework in supporting the city’s long-term growth. That consistency gives investors greater confidence because it reduces the uncertainty created by fragmented leadership or constantly shifting priorities.

For infrastructure businesses, that matters. A data centre is a long-term investment. It depends on confidence in regional demand, confidence in connectivity and confidence that the wider business environment will continue to support growth.

Investing in what Greater Manchester is becoming

Datum’s decision to build a brand-new data centre in Manchester was a deliberate investment in a region with the right long-term fundamentals: a growing knowledge economy, strong connectivity, a broadening spread of opportunity and a policy environment that supports investor confidence. That confidence is already being reflected in market demand, with half of the existing capacity in MCR2 already committed and a second hall coming online, when required.

Manchester’s growth may be led by its centre, but the opportunity it creates extends well beyond it. For businesses that need secure, scalable and well-connected digital infrastructure, south Manchester is well placed to support the next phase of regional growth.

If you are exploring data centre options, you can visit our Manchester campus, home to MCR1 – and our brand-new MCR2 facility launched in 2025. Or, for organisations looking for capacity closer to the capital, our London edge campus includes FRN1 and our in-progress build of FRN2, which will feature the same specification as MCR2. Get in touch to find out more.

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What stood out at Datacloud Global Congress 2026

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Reflections on the Congress

Phil Nicholson, our Partner Director, attended Datacloud Global Congress in Cannes last week, joining operators, technology providers, investors and policymakers from across the digital infrastructure sector.

His view was that the conversation felt more grounded than in previous years. AI still dominated, but the focus was less on the scale of the opportunity and more on what it will take to deliver it in practice – particularly when it comes to power, planning, talent and long-term sustainability.

AI demand is now shaping every conversation

Unsurprisingly, AI was the main theme across the event. Much of the discussion centred on how quickly infrastructure requirements are changing, especially as training and inference workloads push operators towards higher densities and larger-scale deployments.

There was also a lot of attention on Europe’s ambition to build more sovereign AI capacity. The language around ‘AI gigafactories’ came up repeatedly, along with major investment announcements intended to support that growth.

Power has moved to the centre of the debate

Another clear theme running through the congress was energy. Grid access, generation capacity and resilience were all high on the agenda, reflecting a wider recognition that power is now one of the main limiting factors for data centre growth.

That was especially clear in discussions around on-site generation and the role of nuclear energy. The inclusion of a dedicated Nuclear for AI Summit showed just how seriously the sector is now considering options that might previously have sat at the edge of the conversation.

Nuclear is now being discussed as a serious part of the future energy mix for AI infrastructure, despite the obvious questions around timescales, cost and public acceptance. Deployment into low earth orbit of ‘data centres’ – effectively satellites with compute, power and cooling, is a whole other subject for another date….

Sustainability is still a priority - but the discussion has become more candid

Sustainability remained a major focus, particularly around water use, efficiency and carbon reduction. But the tone felt more direct than in previous years.

There was a clearer acknowledgement that AI growth puts pressure on existing environmental goals. That does not mean sustainability is being pushed aside, but it does mean the industry is having to confront some uncomfortable realities. Expanding capacity at speed while reducing environmental impact is not a simple balance to strike.

The discussion is becoming less about broad commitments and more about the practical compromises and innovations needed to make those commitments credible.

Public perception cannot be ignored

Another thread running beneath many of the sessions was public scrutiny. As demand for new capacity grows, so does resistance in some markets – particularly where concerns about power use, land, water and local infrastructure are already sensitive.

For operators, that makes communication and transparency increasingly important. Securing planning permission is one thing; maintaining public trust is another.

A more practical tone for the sector

There’s a general feeling that the industry is entering a more demanding phase. There is still strong confidence in long-term growth, particularly around AI, but there is also a greater willingness to talk openly about the constraints that come with it – and that may prove to be one of the most important takeaways from this year’s event.

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