Launches major charm offensive on the benefits of its presence to the UK past and present, and its green credentials
In a blog, Google announced it will build a new $1 billion (£788 million) data centre in Waltham Cross, in Hertfordshire, about 12 miles north of central London. The illustration above is a rendering by Google of what reckons building on a 33-acre site will look like.
The data centre will be built on land at Maxwell’s Farm, next to the A10 Great Cambridge Road and around one mile from the M25’s junction 25. The M25 motorway encircles London.
The firm says the UK is a “key” market for its business as well as being “a pioneering world leader in AI technology and science”. It also stresses the number of construction and other jobs it will bring to the area.
Catalogue of investment
The blog, published in the name of Debbie Weinstein, Vice President of Google and Managing Director of Google UK & Ireland, points out, “This announcement builds on our investment in our offices with the $1bn purchase of our Central Saint Giles office in 2022, the 1 million sq ft. development in King’s Cross, and the launch of our Accessibility Discovery Centre – which aims to spur the creation of accessible tech for the whole of the UK.
She also mentions Grace Hopper, the undersea cable built in 2021 which connects the UK with the United States and Spain, and how the firm has provided free digital skills training to more than 1 million people across 500 locations in the UK.
More digital services
Weinstein added, “People and businesses in every corner of the UK rely on data centres to power helpful services like Search, Maps, YouTube, Workspace and Google Cloud.
“As more people tap into the opportunities created by the country’s digital economy and we unlock new ways for AI-powered technologies to boost productivity, fuel creativity, improve health outcomes and unlock scientific discoveries, it’s vital that we invest in the technical infrastructure needed to support innovation and tech-led growth.”
Parent company Alphabet bought the site in 2020 and gained planning permission from Broxbourne Borough Council on 30 November, 2023. Waltham Cross has a population of under 9,000, most famous for the Eleanor Cross which stands in the centre of the town, built on the orders of Edward I after his wife, Eleanor of Castile, died in 1290.
Government support
The UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) wrote on x.com, “Delighted to see this investment from Google. Reflects the success of the UK tech sector, which is now the third largest in the world after the US and China – worth over $1 trillion and double the size of anywhere else in Europe.”
Google claims its data centres are some of the most efficient in the world and intends to operate all of them and its campuses carbon-free energy by 2030. It buys electricity in the UK from ENGIE, generated by the Moray West wind farm in Scotland and will reuse heat generated by data centre for homes and businesses in the proximity. This and other actions for the public good, already in train or to come can be found in the blog.