Over dinner the other evening, I got into discussions with a colleague’s husband, a data centre architect about the halting of data centre construction in central London. He says the culprit is the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The City of London has a power demand of 1,000MK which is expected to increase by 80 per cent over the next 5-7 years, while Docklands, home of several data centres has a power demand of 250MK, which is predicted to rise to 90 percent over the same period. It’s claimed that political prioritisation has occurred to ensure the games’ success so risking the UK’s financial sector. Chris Crosby, VP of Digital Reality, the largest provider of data centres in the world, says “There’s the potential now for London to go technology-dry because of the lack of power”.

The broader question, has the government dithered over what is probably one of the most critical issues for business, a clear strategic policy to provide energy security for the next ten years and be compliant with its own CO2 emission targets? Review the BBC’s survey findings, it’s very insightful.

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