GP 71: Data Centres Explained: with Celeste McGinley of Knight Frank

In this episode of the Grow Places Podcast, Tom Larsson sits down with Celeste McGinley of Knight Frank’s Global Data Centre team. Celeste advises buyers, sellers and occupiers on data centres, land and co-location space, mainly across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Data centres are in the headlines more and more, yet few people understand what they are, why we need them, or why they are so hard to deliver. This episode is a clear, practical explainer. Celeste describes how every email, stored photo and banking transaction runs through a physical building somewhere. She also explains how a sector that only emerged in the late 1990s has grown dramatically in scale and importance in just a few years.

Topics covered include:

• What a data centre actually is, and the difference between enterprise, co-location and hyperscale facilities
• How quickly scale has grown, with European builds now exceeding 100 megawatts and some approaching 500 megawatts, and why AI could at least double demand over the next five to eight years
• Why location has traditionally been driven by network and connectivity, from the West London cluster to Docklands, and how shortages of land and power, planning and the cost of power are now reshaping site selection
• The significance of the UK government designating data centres as Critical National Infrastructure in September 2024, and the knock-on effects for planning and grid reform
• Public concerns about data centres, whether they can be sustainable, and why the sector needs to get better at explaining what it does
• Alternative power, from gas to small modular reactors, and Celeste’s long-held ambition to put a data centre in space
• The US, Middle East and Asian markets, and Celeste’s advice to UK developers: be creative, be flexible, and stay close to the established data centre heartlands

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