When Erin Brockovich put out a call on her website in April asking Americans to share concerns about data centres near their homes, she wasn't expecting the response she got. Within a month, 3,862 people had written in. By June, that number had grown to over 7,000 reports. For a woman who made her name taking on one of America's largest energy companies over contaminated water in the 1990s, the scale of this new challenge was striking. "This feels like Hinkley on steroids," she said.
The UK might seem a world away from these American concerns, but we shouldn't be complacent. Data centres powering artificial intelligence are being built across Europe, and Britain is increasingly on the radar for tech companies looking to establish computing facilities. As property owners, whether you're selling, buying or simply living somewhere, it's worth understanding what's happening around these developments and how they might affect your home and neighbourhood.
What's actually being built?
Data centres aren't new. Tech companies have been operating them for decades to power cloud services, streaming platforms and websites. What's different now is the scale and speed. The facilities being constructed to support AI systems are enormous. We're talking about structures that sprawl across hundreds of acres. One facility approved in Utah last year is twice the size of Manhattan. These aren't small installations hidden away on business parks. They're substantial pieces of infrastructure that change the character of the areas where they're built.
The surprise for many people living near proposed sites is how little warning they get. Emails flooding into Brockovich's team reveal a common frustration: planning approvals seem to happen before local residents even know what's coming. "Why did I not know about this? How did construction just start? Why am I now getting a notice that this has already passed when I didn't even have a voice in it?" These aren't edge-case complaints. They reflect a genuine gap between how communities expect to be consulted and how these approvals actually work in practice.
What should homeowners actually worry about?
The concerns people are raising cluster around a few key issues. Water consumption tops the list. Data centres require enormous quantities of water for cooling systems. In regions already dealing with drought or water stress, this can be a serious problem. Energy demand is another major concern. These facilities are power-hungry, and the question of who ultimately pays for that electricity, and how it's sourced, matters to people living nearby.
Then there's the impact on local character. A data centre employs relatively few people compared to traditional factories or offices. It doesn't bring shops, restaurants or community amenities. It does bring 24-hour operations, occasional noise, and heavy vehicle traffic for maintenance. For rural communities especially, this represents a significant change to how places feel and function.
Health and environmental impacts aren't fully understood yet. Wildlife displacement, air quality, electromagnetic radiation and long-term ecological effects haven't all been thoroughly studied, particularly at the scale these new facilities operate.
What does this mean for your home's value?
This is where the property angle becomes real. If you own a home near where a data centre is proposed or under construction, it could affect what your property is worth. Buyers looking at properties within sight or sound of a major facility may well factor that into their offers. With UK average house prices sitting at £270,080 and a competitive mortgage market where 5-year fixed rates are around 4.92%, buyers are already careful about where they put their money. Any additional factor that might lower desirability or increase future costs tends to weigh heavily.
Conversely, if you're buying in an area where a data centre is planned, understanding the timeline and likely impact is crucial information for making an informed decision. It's not necessarily a reason to avoid a property, but it should be part of your due diligence, just like flood risk or planning restrictions.
What can you actually do about it?
First, find out if a data centre is planned near you. Check your local council's planning portal regularly. Join or create community groups focused on local planning issues. When consultations do happen, they often have tight deadlines and limited publicity, so being organised and connected helps.
Second, engage constructively with the process. Understand the company's plans, the supposed benefits for the local economy, and the mitigations they're offering. Not all objections carry equal weight. Data centres do create some jobs, they do pay business rates, and in some areas they offer infrastructure investment that wouldn't otherwise happen. The question is whether the trade-offs work for your community.
Third, talk to your neighbours and, if you're selling or buying, make sure agents and solicitors are aware of any planned developments. Transparency now saves complications later.
The data centre story isn't primarily about property yet. But as these facilities expand across Britain, it will increasingly become one. Understanding what's happening in your area, and having your voice heard before decisions are made, is the most practical protection you have.