Blackpool Council is inviting data centre operators to support its endeavour to establish a technology campus, Silicon Sands, to take advantage of the town’s proximity to the North Atlantic Loop undersea fibre cable network.
The 40-acre Silicon Sands campus will be situated within the Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone and will be home to data centres powered by renewable energy. The Council hopes this will draw businesses seeking low-latency connections to high-performance computing (HPC) resources.
Data centre operators are encouraged to discuss forming a partnership with Blackpool Council to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technology demonstration facility on the site.
This facility would also showcase the data centre industry’s commitment to sustainable growth, highlighting liquid immersion cooling technology, sustainable energy supply, and a district heating system to provide a comprehensive solution to the industry’s energy and sustainability challenges.
Blackpool Council is keen to start exploratory talks and scoping discussions with organisations with the expertise and experience in such collaborations. This will help the Council define its specific needs, comprehend delivery models, gauge market capability, and evaluate interest levels for a possible formal procurement process or commercial partnership.
The Silicon Sands initiative has the potential to draw inward investment from data centre developers to Blackpool, similar to the investments attracted by Dublin and New York due to their proximity to the Celtic-Connect2 internet cable.
Like the data centre clusters in Dublin and New York, Blackpool’s access to the cable could lead to significant inward investment on the Fylde Coast, especially with its low latency connectivity to the rest of Lancashire, including the proposed National Cyber Force in Samlesbury and various advanced manufacturing companies in the region.
Silicon Sands aims to promote liquid immersion cooling technologies for data centres, thereby reducing environmental impact and enhancing energy efficiency by up to 50 per cent.
Mark Smith, the cabinet member for Levelling Up (Place) at Blackpool Council, believes the Silicon Sands project can transform the town.
Smith said: “With the available power supply, land, and ultra-fast internet access, we are poised to be at the forefront of a new digital revolution, not just for Blackpool but for the entire region.”
For Blackpool, this could result in substantial inward investment and the creation of thousands of well-paid new jobs across the Fylde Coast. This would help retain the local young talent instead of losing them to other regions and enable future high-performance businesses to expand on the Fylde Coast rapidly.
Silicon Sands presents an opportunity for the data centre industry to lessen its environmental footprint, reduce the strain on the National Grid, and demonstrate a modern, climate-friendly future that can bring significant regeneration benefits, Smith said.
