‘Built to last’: sustainable growth in the UK’s tech hubs

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Manchester Digital’s vision for a thriving region

Last week, our Partner Director, Phil Nicholson, attended the Manchester Digital Members’ Conference, which brought together digital and tech businesses from across the region. The central theme was ‘Built to Last’ – a concept that explored how businesses can thrive through collaboration, experimentation, and resilience, especially when it comes to doing more with less and driving sustainable growth.

This concept resonates with us at Datum. In the world of data centres, ‘built to last’ is a principle that includes both physical durability and a commitment to sustainability, efficiency, and futureproofing for both our infrastructure and our clients’ operations.

What ‘built to last’ means for data centres

n the world of data centres, ‘built to last’ is a principle that extends far beyond physical durability. It represents a deep commitment to sustainability, efficiency and futureproofing for our infrastructure and our clients’ operations. 

Our recently launched MCR2 facility in Manchester and the recently begun construction at our London-edge campus are prime examples. By building data centres in two of the UK’s leading tech hubs, we are placing our cutting-edge infrastructure exactly where demand is highest.  

Our data centres are engineered for longevity. They facilitate long-term client scalability while embodying sustainable design and operational principles from the ground up. MCR2 serves as a prime example of this commitment. Key features include:

  • Supporting local regeneration: the facility was built on a brownfield site, contributing to the revitalisation of the local area.
  • Minimising environmental footprint: we conducted a full embodied carbon assessment during construction to reduce our impact.
  • Responsible power: the facility is powered by a 100% renewable energy mix, which includes integrated PV panels on site.
  • Maximum efficiency: highly efficient cooling systems are in place to maximise our environmental efficiency during operation.
  • Community integration: we integrated heat reuse capabilities into the design, preparing to facilitate a district heat network for a planned local housing development.

Data centres exist to solve critical challenges, but not at any cost. We believe everything we construct must be built to last - sympathetic to the local community and engineered for minimal environmental impact. 

Thriving regions are built on strong partnerships

A key takeaway from the conference was the importance of collaboration in a thriving tech hub like Manchester. The city’s dynamic growth is a testament to what can be achieved when businesses work together, sharing knowledge and resources to build a stronger ecosystem for everyone. This aligns perfectly with our own approach.

Partnerships are at the core of Datum’s success. It is why we have Phil Nicholson as our Partner Director, whose role is dedicated to developing new channels and fostering vibrant communities within our partner network. Our growth has been built on strong, trusted relationships with our channel partners, industry consultancies, and commercial property advisors. Phil’s focus is to advance these relationships even further, ensuring we continue to grow alongside our partners.

We were proud to launch our second Manchester data centre, MCR2, in June 2025. This facility was created in direct response to the region’s needs, and we are pleased to be contributing to its growth and to be an active part of such a dynamic community. we have now begun construction on our second London-edge data centre in on Cody Technology Park in Farnborough (FRN2), bringing the same principles of partnership and sustainable design to another key UK tech hub.

See our vision in action

We are incredibly proud of what we are building and the communities we are part of. To truly understand our ‘built to last’ philosophy, we invite you to see it for yourself. Come and visit our sites in Manchester and Farnborough to learn more about our commitment to sustainable, future-proofed data infrastructure.

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