TOWN’S SHIFTING SANDS
A ‘game-changing’ plan to make Blackpool the centre of a data revolution delivering thousands of well-paid jobs to the Fylde coast was launched at UKREiiF.
The pitch to investors was both ambitious and focused. Driving the masterplan is the creation of a high-performance data centre campus.
However, sitting across a 40-acre site north of Blackpool Airport, Silicon Sands aims to be much more than a data centre hub.
The masterplan also offers development land for businesses which could benefit from direct access to a data centre, including high performance sectors such as AI, telehealth, advanced manufacturing and gaming.
Silicon Sands looks to leverage the town’s access to the high-speed Celtix-Connect2 transatlantic cable to provide high-performance connectivity.
The cable connects the town to New York, Dublin and northern Europe as part of the North Atlantic Loop, which carries up to one- third of the world’s internet traffic.
Similar to the way data centre clusters have been developed in Dublin and New York, Blackpool believes its access to the cable, coupled with renewable power supplies and available land creates a major opportunity to attract significant inward investment.
The connectivity the cable brings to the rest of Lancashire, including the coming National Cyber Force in Samlesbury and a range of
An artist’s impression of Silicon Sands
advanced manufacturers based in the region, is also seen as a massive plus for the project.
Silicon Sands would take a carbon friendly approach to data centres. While the industry tackles limited power availability for high performance GPU data centres, Silicon Sands will offer at least 50MVA of renewable energy through an agreement with Electricity North West and a potential solar farm.
It will also champion the use of liquid immersion cooling technologies, reducing the
town, but for the entire region.
“For Blackpool, this could mean significant inward investment and thousands of well-paid new jobs across the Fylde Coast, which in turn will retain the talent of our young people in Blackpool rather than losing them to other parts of the country, as well allowing high performance businesses of the future to grow fast on the Fylde coast.
“For the data centre industry, Silicon Sands offers the chance to reduce its impact on the
With the power supply, land availability and ultra-fast internet access, we can sit at the heart of a new digital revolution not just for the town, but for the entire region
environmental impact and making the data centres up to 50 per cent more energy efficient.
Feasibility studies are taking place to connect the campus to a district heat network, with waste heat from the data centres being re-used to heat the surrounding new businesses.
Mark Smith, cabinet member for levelling up (place) at Blackpool Council, declares: “Silicon Sands has the potential to be a complete game- changer in our plans to make Blackpool better.
“With the power supply, land availability and ultra-fast internet access, we can sit at the heart of a new digital revolution not just for the
environment and on the National Grid and show a modern climate friendly future that can major regeneration benefits.”
Construction on a first data centre is set to start next year on a cleared area of land and Blackpool Council is hosting an expression of interest for data centre developers and operators to build and run the site, which would also include a research and office facility on upper floors.
To develop the Silicon Sands site, work is progressing to relocate and rebuild old hangars and administration buildings at Blackpool Airport closer to the main runway.
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