Inside the UK’s data centre capital, where locals fear for their health

Detailed summary

Slough is the UK's data centre and the largest in Europe, but residents fear the health and environmental impacts the hubs may cause ...

On Slough Trading Estate, the cluster of data centres lining the streets, each protected with electric fences, CCTV and security guards, is a dystopian eyesore.

Alongside the rows and rows of large buildings is a constant hum, akin to the sound of an in-use vacuum. It’s emitted from the data centres, huge buildings which house powerful computer servers used to facilitate digital activity.

Dr Ambily Banerjee, organiser of grassroots campaign group Slough Against Data Centres, said the sound goes on every day and throughout the year.

“It causes ringing in your ears and it can cause headaches, anxiety, insomnia and even cardiovascular risk goes up with noise,” Banerjee told The i Paper on a trip to the site.

Residents living in the shadow of the data centres complain of sleep deprivation due to the noise and vibrations, campaigners say. Other worries include heat-related effects from the high temperatures generated.

Data centres warm up their immediate vicinities by an average of 2°C, and as much as 9°C, one study by Cambridge University researchers suggests.

But individuals directly impacted by data centres are often reluctant to share their stories with the media as many live in social housing and fear retaliation from speaking out, Dr Banerjee claimed.

She doesn’t live close to a data centre yet – but plans to build more in Langley, where she lives, have her and other locals worried.

“The concerning thing now is that these that have been built more recently are much bigger. They’re hyperscale. They’re taking up a lot more space, and they are huge monstrosities.

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