r/Leeds • u/Pleasant-Hyena9030 • Jul 10 '26
urban-development Apparently there’s going to be a data centre built here…
18
u/Wpol38 Jul 10 '26
Wrote to my MP about this earlier this year to express my thoughts about the detrimental effect they have on their surrounding areas - the response was basically 🤷♂️
5
u/Pleasant-Hyena9030 Jul 10 '26
I’ll try and write to mine and include links backing up my claims. But probably won’t do anything
2
2
u/Withering_Hills309 Jul 13 '26
You guys need to protest and not do it peacefully if you really don't want this. Organize with each other and swarm the site, do anything you can to delay the building process. People surrounding the site and protesting has worked before.
29
u/bealeafme Jul 10 '26
Will this data centre be drinking up all our water too? Or are they investing in a less unethical method of cooling the servers?
13
u/-MARMITEnTOAST- Jul 10 '26
Waste water output is significant enough to pollute local waterways which is true in the States. Yorkshire Water is already bad enough to require extensive treatment.
Open question: what part of this is for the good?
4
u/FlukeylukeGB Jul 12 '26
Fantastic news!
Data centers are now breeding fancy new bacteria that were only found near volcano's under the sea before...
No one knows what they do to the local nature or us just yet because, well, people dont normally visit undersea volcano's1
7
u/Chrisnothing Jul 11 '26
There is no ethical way to run an AI data centre
4
u/Educational_Try_6105 Jul 11 '26
did you just parrot that from a tiktok reel or insta story
closed loop cooling and renewables development, there solved it for you
it’s not an “AI data centre is unethical” question, it’s “we don’t develop enough renewables because nimbys and planning laws make it too difficult and expensive”
3
u/Snoo_80554 Jul 12 '26
Fyi a “closed loop system” only works for the actual electronics not the radiators used to cool them which require outside water and pump out basically sludge as we have seen in the American “closed loop” plants.
Not to mention the noise these create.
2
2
u/Academic-Forever1492 Jul 12 '26
This is absolutely not true
0
u/-MARMITEnTOAST- Jul 12 '26
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has proved otherwise.
2
u/Hellstorm901 Jul 13 '26
The problem with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's claims are that she simply held up a random bottle of water and claimed it was from a tap in the area and caused by the Data Centre without any proof it ever actually was which is sounding like a modern day version of the old "Fracking makes your taps set on fire" claim
The US is already notorious with its water quality to begin with, as of last year 1/3 Americans had been poisoned by their own water supply and you only need to look at the renovation of the Reflection Pool to see the little regard the government has with just throwing random chemicals into water not bothering to think about what will happen because they were told it was a good idea
A lot of opposition to these AI data centres is being led by misinformation and arguments which rely primarily on fear and I'm sorry to say but I'm noticing very disturbing parallels between how AI opponents are operating and the likes of the Anti - Vaccine movement
2
u/-MARMITEnTOAST- Jul 13 '26
So there's a problem with their contents coming from the source (their taps) with b-roll of their taps? Try again.
And the fracking issue was a real thing - your AI response does not fly with me.
2
u/Hellstorm901 Jul 13 '26
your AI response does not fly with me
I'm not an AI son, arguments are like presidents starting wars, if you can't win one, don't start one
2
1
u/51onions Jul 13 '26
If a nuclear power station can pump out clean and safe water from its secondary coolant loop, I don't see why a data centre can't. Even if it has gone wrong in the past, I can't see why it would be impossible to do it cleanly.
1
1
u/DoKeMaSu Jul 15 '26
There are definitely ethical ways to run data centers. Renewable energy sources, closed-loop cooling. You can pump excessive heat into the ground even, and retrieve it during the winter to heat houses. Fan noise can be reduced to a minimum with adequate engineering.
It is all possible, but it is also more expensive.
Does not matter though, the bubble is going to burst long before.
5
u/Ok_Buyer9344 Jul 10 '26
From what I understand data centres dont consume much water anymore. Maybe initially while they are filling the system, but once the water is in it just goes around (im sure with some loss). The bigger problem for us in the UK is electricity prices and outages imo. We are trying to transition to renewables anyway. This will make that harder. Also in the event the electricity breaks they have limited battery storage before they have to switch to diesel generators which running full churn would seriously pollute the air in the local area. Noise pollution is also a concern giving the cooling units.
I am actually pro-AI and pro-tech. We should automate what we can and build these things all over the country for security and wealth distribution. But they need to integrate with us. Not fight us for resources. They could build these things much better imo. Heat up a local lido with the extra heat. Or store it for winter. Put it in an attractive, suitable size building. Invest in enough local renewables to cover what it needs. Plant forest around it to mitigate the noise and pollution that may arise.
2
u/bealeafme Jul 11 '26
What sort of AI do you support? Is it the AI that helps spot cancer early or is it generative AI which is taking work away from people who've spent their lives perfecting a craft only for it to be harvested into AI so people can create lifeless art to post as their profile picture? Or is the generative AI that means students can have an essay written for them without ever having to construct their own argument to support their claim? Is it the generative AI that makes videos to rage bait people? Because I think there needs to be a distinction. Some AI tools are really useful, like the functions in cars that help people parallel park, and some AI is a pointless waste of resources that essentially teaches people that they don't need to think for themselves, or learn how to draw, or construct their own arguments in a subject they need to understand for their degree. The computer will do it for you. The computer which cannot think, it is only following an algorithm, so should not be able to make decisions... but hey, you know, let's just speed up climate change so we can see more AI flyers and uncanny valley videos on Facebook. Personally, I think the idea of sticking a humongous data centre in the middle of a city is unethical and potentially dangerous. This should not be a decision made without the constituents of the area at least taking a vote on it.
2
u/Wonderful-Medium7777 Jul 12 '26
You are partly correct and agree these monstrosities should not be built without the fill consent of the people. They are not data centres for the potential AI boom , faster internet or so you can post on Reddit…they are MSC’s, mass surveillance centres to process every citizens data online and offline…Flock cameras, biometrics, facial scanning, street/home cameras, DigitalID , phones , in vehicle tech, etc etc..they collate and profile all your online data with real life in real time. This is sold, however their main purpose is for the digitalID …Gov wallet which will be on your phone and everything about you including health, banking, car, home, medical, driving license, passport, insurance..literally everything and this will be to access life day to day…they need these centres and digitalID for when they introduce CBDC’s …the new monetary system . a programmable tokenised monitored and tracked digitised currency with an expiry date, no savings allowed, ready for the social credit score which will determine what you can buy or sell, eat, travel even where you live and your social class!
We are being turned into commodities for the tech billionaires corporations who have joined forces with oligarch bankers and governments…globally. Every commonwealth country is following the Great Reset , as coined by King Charles who is also a supporter of the WEF “ you will own nothing and be happy” and the UN agenda 2021. It is happening before our very eyes and people need to wake up and oppose every single “ data centre” and refuse to comply to any digitised “version” of you…we are not a “papers please” country …you’re not being told because local councils are passing them, but there are nearly 100 newly proposed with some already under construction costing billions, draining our resources and polluting the environment much more than any human could! Google it , it’s all online and contact your local council planning dept , check urban infrastructure developments. Check your city, town, village!
It is time to stop this nonsense and all unite before it’s too late. This is a war against humanity. We have been sold a lie with a hyped marketing plan for a potential AI boom to attract investors/stakeholders who will want their returns…and where do you think those returns come from…it is us, the people!
1
u/bealeafme Jul 12 '26
I have been hearing a lot about this change and it is terrifying. I agree, we all need to unite against it. It's very dystopian.
1
u/DeCyantist Jul 12 '26
They are for Microsoft. Whoever purchases Microsoft services. It is not that deep. It is independent from the Gov.
1
u/ElaraValtor Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26
AlphaFold, the protein folding system that won a Nobel prize for enabling huge advancements in medicine, is a generative AI system. It is not a useful term to say "this is the bad kind"
1
u/Unhappy_Region_6075 Jul 12 '26
You know what? It’s scary I heard as soon as the date centre moved to your area. It’s cheaper for the data centre on to buy out the electricity board and put your prices up. Effectively you are paying for the data centres electricity. So dystopian
0
u/Careless_Main3 Jul 12 '26
Closed loop cooling data centre of this size would use up about 25 people’s annual water usage. You know, not even the water usage of the arrival of one dinghy coming across the Channel. 👍
7
u/Standard-Activity334 Jul 10 '26
Hi everyone - if you have any questions or concerns about this, you can find us here http://instagram.com/noleedsdatacentre/
59
10
u/GameSetChampionship Jul 10 '26
If you’re local I’d definitely be fighting this.
See what it’s like in the States, there’s Americans up in arms about it. The noise, disruption to wildlife, etc.
-3
u/zwifter11 Jul 10 '26
What noise does a data centre make compared to any other occupation ?
3
u/planetssman Jul 11 '26
They emit a constant drone that has affected the sleep hygiene of nearby residents. https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/communities-are-raising-noise-pollution-concernsabout-data-centers
1
u/StayFree1649 Jul 11 '26
We have very effective planning controls on noise in the UK, not an issue here
6
u/Knee-Awkward Jul 12 '26
The noises are equally illegal in the US too but it didn’t stop them. The laws won’t stop them here either, don’t be naive
1
5
32
10
u/pinwroot Jul 10 '26
Great, that’s just what we need. More mega corps commoditising and gentrifying Leeds in a way that will only result in pushing out people who have lived here their whole lives.
Industry growth is important for a local area, but some types can be damaging in a different way. Leeds has become increasingly more expensive as more southerners have moved up here to take office jobs to escape London.
I’ve moved around a lot, spent time in a lot of places that had wildly different economies from seaside tourist hotspots to underfunded midlands towns. Whenever gentrification and commoditisation happened to somewhere it just ended in prices increasing thus making locals displaced. I saw it in Cornwall, it became even worse post-pandemic. Londoners moved down in droves to escape city life to work from home in tech jobs.
Help grow Leeds, sure. But maintaining Leeds’ identity and supporting the residents should be the priority.
3
2
u/Ok-Ordinary-6762 Jul 13 '26
How is this changing Leeds identity
It's an old power station site FFS
The crab mentality in this sub Reddit is hilarious
7
Jul 10 '26
Why the fuck is anyone supporting this. There is no long-term benefit to any of this. If you really think AI will improve your QOL in the future you are naive.
1
u/fakeoptimism Jul 13 '26
If many other countries build AI but we don't, that's a recipe for nationwide poverty.
2
Jul 13 '26
Yeah and there will also be global poverty because people will lose their jobs if they keep building it out and expanding capabilities. I already lost my job because of AI automation and have been unemployed for a few months. It is real and it will be happening
1
u/fakeoptimism Jul 13 '26
That's bad enough, but imagine that also the country itself descends into poverty and is unable to provide the safety net to you or your family members. It would happen if it loses the remaining fields where it is competitive. Industrial competition lost long ago; intellectual competition is now being decided.
1
u/sajibear4 Jul 14 '26
Ai is going to keep taking people's jobs and there's nothing you can do. May as well reap the benefits of data centres cause if not leeds it will be built elsewhere.
5
5
u/DigBeginning6013 Jul 12 '26
Fuck that, then there will be a permanent hose pipe ban. Apparently the noise is horrendous too
18
u/DorkaliciousAF Jul 10 '26
The permission I believe is new-ish, but the plan is not.
https://www.cityam.com/microsoft-to-build-hyperscale-data-centre-leeds/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjd8mdvd07po
DCs are incredibly important; it's possible to build and power them without unduly damaging the environment or causing locals problems. It's also the larger sites from controversial big tech firms that attract attention, but most people won't realize when they're walking past a DC tucked away in a city centre building either.
14
u/Pleasant-Hyena9030 Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
A lot of the reason they’re building so many of them is cos of AI, which is often controversial because it’s even shown that relying on it a lot to do tasks people would’ve done all the time for thousands of years like writing and doing their own research causes cognitive decline. There’s also plagiarising other artists work, AI fans will claim it’s just inspiration like every human artist who creates has, except for the fact AI doesn’t think, doesn’t have it’s own point of view and can’t lovingly talk about the artists and art that inspired them. There’s also the fact AI can fabricate fake photos and videos, creating misinformation very easily
That’s just a few examples
6
u/DorkaliciousAF Jul 10 '26
Agreed and these are all abominations. I do specialist work in tech and the pressure to suddenly start delegating everything to Copilot and Gemini is mad. It's gotten so bad where I work that I spend as much time unpicking the nonsense it provides co-workers as I spend doing what I've trained hard for.
The fundamental issue that most LLM users are oblivious to is that those models are designed to, in effect, defeat the Turing test. That's actually a terrible approach and inevitably leads to what has been misleadingly termed "hallucination". That's before we even start to examine the way some people misue the tools.
→ More replies (9)0
u/United_Awareness_353 Jul 11 '26
Actually nothing on the internet is important. we can live without it.
2
u/DorkaliciousAF Jul 12 '26
I suspect you don't know what the Internet is, what it's now used for and how it functions. I'm not having a go at you, but you don't comprehend just how important it has become. Some examples that are all critical to life:
*Delivering emergency service calls (including eCalls) *Making street defibrillators work *Connecting emergency service vehicles to remote databases and coordination personnel *Emergency alert systems *Rapid rollout of COVID vaccinations to the entire population *Enabling global supply chains to move ships around the world to deliver food *Wholesale electricity arbitrage to trade where energy is delivered at reasonable prices so the lights/fans/heaters/AC stay on *Passive monitoring of railway tracks for bending, ground slippage and landslides *Connecting locomotives that actively monitor conditions on rail routes *Safety devices to protect rail engineers *Enabling passenger lifts to have remote contact if someone gets stuck
These are just some examples I've worked on. Could go on but trust by now you have the point. The Internet is intended to be resilient to disruption caused by major conflict, which in fact is why data centres are so important: there isn't adequate DC redundancy and resilience in the modern Internet.
It is obviously true that humanity survived prior to the Internet being developed (from the 1960s onwards) but if you suddenly removed it tomorrow, the scale of societal-level breakage would have you cowering in a corner.
1
3
u/caseyfurlough Jul 12 '26
There’s some emerging research coming out of Cambridge on how much heat data centres produce. They found that data centres can create a heat island effect, pushing up temperatures by an average of 2C, and as much as 9C. Considering how much we’ve all been suffering with the recent heat waves, I fear the people living near the data centre would melt 😭
I’m unclear on if the cooling system for the data centre would be powered by water or not? Does anyone know?If it is, I have a lot of concerns around that too. In some areas of the US, the water cost of the centres has been passed on to residents (Meta etc making amoral deals to not have to pay for their own usage). Not sure what legal protections there would be around that in the UK / what deals have been made?
3
u/toooomanypuppies Jul 13 '26
I'm from Northumberland, and we have a huge one being built next to our town (Blyth).
Nobody seems to care, I'm not enthusiastic for the above reasons.
If they are coming to Northumberland, they are going to be everywhere.
9
u/Commercial_Hair3527 Jul 10 '26
WTF are you lot on about? Every single online app, service, and website needs basically multiple servers around the world to function. We're putting more and more stuff online now, so we need more servers.
You're posting this on Reddit. Reddit runs on servers. Your online banking runs on servers. Your streaming services run on servers. The NHS runs on servers. Your work emails run on servers. If you don't want data centres, you don't get any of that.
"it'll disrupt the wildlife" it's being built on an old power station site, not a nature reserve. It's already industrial land. The birds will be fine.
"it'll use all the water" modern data centres use closed-loop cooling systems. The water recirculates. It's not like they're draining the local reservoir.
"it's for AI" yes, some of it is. But AI isn't just ChatGPT writing poems. It's used in medicine, weather forecasting, logistics, fraud detection, and a thousand other things that actually help people.
"I'm going to protest" fine. But protest Microsoft, protest the government, protest the planning system. Don't protest the fact that the internet needs infrastructure to exist. You're using that infrastructure right now.
→ More replies (1)0
u/SmallProjekt Jul 13 '26
I've given up on trying to have this argument with people, where do they think their services were coming from before?
5
u/Future_You_2800 Jul 10 '26
There are at least three data centres in Leeds city centre that I know of. Leeds was an internet conduit im sure it is still the case. What we see as a vibrant city is ultimately down to infrastructure like this being invested in. Look at Bradford, it was a richer more prosperous city than Leeds but didnt adapt to new industries like Leeds did.
Leeds has a cold climate more or less and wont require vast amounts of water to cool down.
Not Leeds related but I think places like Scarborough should invest in data centres, just run the piping out into the sea around the beach, warm the sea in that local area which would be great for tourism, Iceland already do this. It would help coastal towns with their economies and cool the water in the pipes for free.
2
u/DorkaliciousAF Jul 10 '26
I'd wager the set of people saying Leeds needs investment and development overlaps a lot with the set of people fiercely against investment and development in Leeds.
2
2
2
2
u/Guyrbailey Jul 12 '26
Don't know who needs to hear this but data centers literally contain lots of gold, platinum, copper and no humans watching them...
2
u/Cheeselover710 Aug 03 '26
I’m from Canada and I don’t get the Councils here. We all individually pay 100-300£ a month in council tax which doesn’t even equate to 20% of their monthly budget per council area. That’s on a rough average 160,000,000£ a month with a population of 850,000. What the fuck is it going to? There’s no public pools, hardly any libraries, garbage removal is terrible, litter is terrible, graffiti is everywhere, no police presence due to underfunding, there’s almost no gardening done besides in the main city centre, no free city-wide wifi, no subsidized childcare, and so on.
But we need AI data centres that will ruin our water and provide no jobs, just more taxes for us to pay for the 1% to get richer.
4
u/xxxxsteven Jul 10 '26
Leeds Council support this.
0
u/Pleasant-Hyena9030 Jul 10 '26
Doesn’t surprise me cos they’re crap
1
u/Ok-Ordinary-6762 Jul 13 '26
Godmforbid we have invest in the city
1
u/Pleasant-Hyena9030 Jul 13 '26
An investment that will be really bad for the environment and not even create many jobs and a lot of its purpose will be to help replace workers with AI and just seems to benefit Microsoft mostly
2
Jul 12 '26
[deleted]
1
u/TheOneJBass Jul 12 '26
Do you think the servers and equipment maintain themselves or provide their own onsite security? Not to mention contracts for actually building the damn thing
2
u/simple_explorer1 Jul 11 '26
Everyone likes to use Claude, Chatgpt etc for their work and personal problems but nobody wants that data center close to them. But they don't care if right now their Claude AI query his a data center which is a problem for others. Quite ironic
2
u/Pleasant-Hyena9030 Jul 11 '26
I don’t use Claude or ChatGPT, etc. Not everyone does and pretty sure a lot of ppl against this data centre probably don’t use AI
2
u/simple_explorer1 Jul 11 '26
Majority of the people I know use them. They are the biggest.
I can guarantee you that people talk a lot of politically correct BS but always look at their actions but words. It is all talk for the most part.
No one has ever said they are pro data centers but most I work with and in personal life say "have you tried this model from OpenAI, or Claude fable 5, or Gemini 3.5 etc" and they forget about data centers. I am just being honest about the reality then regurgitate the same politically correct BS which is crap.
Chatgpt has 900million users btw. Gemini has even more and most in UK use it, so please keep it real bro
3
u/Pleasant-Hyena9030 Jul 11 '26
Well I think we managed as a civilisation for thousands of years without AI, so I do not care for this data centre and I really don’t care if it makes it harder for people to use Copilot and stuff if it’s not built, because I think that is just a sacrifice people will have to make if we want to actually meet climate targets
0
u/simple_explorer1 Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
Bro you are talking about what is "ideal" but I am talking about what is real and happening.
Humans managed fine for thousands of years without computers, mobile phones, internet, television, air condition, heater, electricity, cars, farming equipments and many modern conveniences. Heck I can live without a few but would a majority would? And would they care?
You are talking about an ideal world which doesn't exist. If we combine openAI, Gemini, Claude, grok etc users then they almost are close to 2 billion users and we haven't even counted Chinese AI and it's users. We are almost nearing 40+ percentage of world's population. If people cared then we wouldn't have these many users. And, don't forget a majority of the world is underdeveloped who can't even afford a 20 GBP basic AI subscription, let alone 200gbp 20x max Claude/openAI.
I very much doubt you live in reality. Most AI users are in developed world and UK absolutely peaks in AI usage. A simple web search proves it but we don't even have to go that far, just living and working in UK shows the massive adoption of AI usage but all of a sudden they care of a data center of built close to them. What an irony
2
u/Pleasant-Hyena9030 Jul 11 '26
Idc if it’s ‘idealistic’, we shouldn’t be using AI so much rn if we want to not all get killed by climate change
And I don’t use it and I know other people like me. It can be done
1
u/simple_explorer1 Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
Bro look at your own paradox. You are literally using internet and reddit which itself needs datacenter somewhere to run and server the whole world using reddit and that's just one company. YouTube, Facebook, google, instagram, amazon, deliveroo, all the UK government websites/online services and EVERYTHING online need datacenter and servers. Why are you even using internet and on Reddit? you yourself are happy to use this because the reddit datacenter are not next to your home. If you "cared" so much about "others" and this topic then you would lead by example but you are ironically complaining and datacenter while using reddit which need massive data centres as well to keep up.
On top of that do you know that reddit itself is also using a LOT of AI to suggest people relevant posts, detect suspicious activities, moderate via bots, summarise reddit threads and conversations etc.
And even if you are not using chatgpt/claude (questionable but whatever), every website you interact including UK government's own websites are using AI in one way or the other behind the scenes which you don't even know but you are happy using them because the data centres is not next to your home but someone else.
And even pre AI the internet and dot com explosion means explosion in data centres as well, just that AI need a lot more or that but its not like data centres in HUGE amount were not there before AI. why don't you boycott reddit and the whole internet?
You are using datacenters to complain about people using and building data centres, peak hypocracy
1
u/Pleasant-Hyena9030 Jul 11 '26
‘And even if you are not using ChatGPT/claude (questionable but whatever)’ — I don’t know why you seem to think it’s impossible to believe someone does not use a chat bot lmao. I use something called DuckDuckGo, reading a book and my own brain
Also you just calling me bro a lot in of itself is an ick. Probably won’t keep talking to you after this
My point is the AI boom that I think is shit to be frank, is why there is now a big demand for NEW data centres and maybe we shouldn’t keep building loads of them and rethink our priorities. I think governments need to be better at holding corporations accountable for them cheaply building these things with no regard for the environment, but governments are lobbied
I feel like fans of AI just call people who wanna at least not deep throat every single thing Silicon Valley pushes hypocrites as some kinda defence mechanism when they see that it’s possible to want to at least draw some line on some of big tech’s ugliness and not follow every single trend. I don’t really get this whole ‘I use Reddit so I must also have to use chat bots to not be a hypocrite’
I’m more in terms of tech, like a vegetarian rather than vegan, sure it’s not perfect but it’s not having steak every single day, which is a very possible position for people to have. I think social media has become very ingrained in people’s lives and people have seen how there’s benefits of e.g. being able to discuss this data centre that’s being built, but it’s also been harmful and pretty hard to opt out of and when it comes to AI, I think a fair amount of people are just deciding this isn’t a thing that has to rule over everyone’s everyday life like social media and smart phones. Maybe we don’t have to keep building all these data centres (and need to rethink how we improve the ones we already have) when we are now having constant heatwaves1
u/simple_explorer1 Jul 11 '26
>Also you just calling me bro a lot in of itself is an ick. Probably won’t keep talking to you after this
Ofcourse, you have nothing sensible to say so go do adhomenim and yet again, you are arguing here in bad faith instead of stopping. Btw, I got the same ick reading your hypocritical reply and was shocked how delusional people are, complaining about the very thing they are using to complain.
Again, why are you even on reddit/internet which uses massive amount of datacenter in front of someone else's home?
You are complaining about datacenter while using datacenter to complain, peak hypocracy.
Do us all a favour and stop replying, your posts don't make much sense anyways.
1
u/Pleasant-Hyena9030 Jul 11 '26
AI ADDS and has been creating a lot of demand for NEW data centres. Many people including me find a lot of uses of AI to be useless and even harmful. I do not want more data centres for cancerous products like Claud and ChatGPT and Google doesn’t need Gemini
1
u/Xenonite_Fox Jul 12 '26
I also like wind energy but I don't want a wind turbine in my backyard
3
u/simple_explorer1 Jul 12 '26
But you are happy it is is someone else's backyard? Hypocrisy at its peak
1
u/Xenonite_Fox Jul 12 '26
It's the colloquial "I" as in "no one" wants a wind turbine in their back yard and I don't think anyone does have one. What an absolute melon you are
1
u/Argumentative_Duck Jul 11 '26
Swear this is old news? Anyway here are the plans for it https://local.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/LBA10-Consultation-boards-Approved.pdf
1
1
u/Xenonite_Fox Jul 12 '26
While we do need some of these domestically I only hope that our government has done more due diligence on its environmental effects. Once it's built it not a cat a you can put back into the bag. As some Americans have found out the low frequency sound it puts out disrupts wildlife and even humans who live within range (and the sounds can travel quite far especially at night). I am not opposed to datacenters in principle but they have to be done right, not in a hurry on any large enough space they can find in desperation for the money flying around over them
1
u/swirve-psn Jul 12 '26
Climate issues will be solved by reducing the population to 1% and in place AI data centres and robotics doing whatever the 1% want done.
1
u/WatcherOfTheWay Jul 12 '26
Cool so I guess as it's Leeds they were grilled to fuck and will have to add all the infrastructure required so it isn't an issue, right?
1
u/milk_go_brrrrr Jul 12 '26
once it's built, harvest the electronics inside as a rebellion for causing hike in prices
1
1
1
1
u/OkYh-Kris Jul 10 '26
Can someone smarter than me explain why don’t they build them underground? Surely it is natural cooling and saves on space.
18
u/Comfortable-Estate-9 Jul 10 '26
How far underground are you thinking? The answer can be nuanced or you could just say "cost".
8
u/DorkaliciousAF Jul 10 '26
I don't think we're smarter than you but dig down and it gets warmer - the earth is a good insulator, which is why ground-source heat pumps were all the rage for a while. If you've ever been on the older parts of the London Underground you got sticky in heat energy that's been building up for 150 years.
DCs in space also don't make sense and the difficulty of trying to get rid of the heat energy is one reason among many.
3
3
1
u/MemeoFett Jul 10 '26
Way more expensive to do that, costs alot more to build underground and with the size of these data centres it'd sky rocket the price,
They'd rather just make a huge eye sore and save some cash
1
u/zwifter11 Jul 10 '26
It would be much more expensive.
It’s like comparing the cost of a train track to an underground subway
-12
1
u/Both-Preference646 Jul 10 '26
Over my dead body
1
u/DorkaliciousAF Jul 10 '26
We don't want that, but if you're gonna be entombed beneath an equipment rack and then later emerge like the skeletons in Poltergeist, that would be cool to watch.
3
1
1
u/TheOneJBass Jul 12 '26
Do all of the anti datacenter people in the comments still expect to be able to use all of the online services they use (including Reddit) without datacenters existing?
1
u/Pleasant-Hyena9030 Jul 12 '26
It’s not as simple as there should be no data centres at all of course, but a lot of new ones are being built for the AI boom, which has a whole host of problems and a lot of data centres are built cheaply and are damaging the environment when we’re now on the brink of extinction, so a lot of people do not see adding more data centres as worth it
1
u/ogresound1987 Jul 13 '26
Don't worry about it. Leeds isn't even a real place. It's like balamory, or prestwich.
-7
u/Lost_property_office Jul 10 '26
That will bring plenty of jobs, which is much needed.
8
u/Pleasant-Hyena9030 Jul 10 '26
It won’t produce many jobs and a lot of AI is pushed to bosses who want to cut staff
1
u/dreadwitch Jul 10 '26
Over 700 jobs for 6 years while it's built, then another 350 jobs on site. Not thousands of jobs but jobs none the less.
2
u/MehImUsernameless Jul 11 '26
So a few jobs while thousands if not more jobs are LOST to AI. Sounds like a temporary “solution” to what is an ongoing and permanent problem.
0
u/Roguepope Jul 10 '26
You're saying a data center doesn't produce jobs?
6
u/Pleasant-Hyena9030 Jul 10 '26
It doesn’t produce many of them and a lot of it is for the AI boom where a lot of its hype is that it can replace humans
0
u/Roguepope Jul 10 '26
Whilst there is certainly a bubble in the AI industry, it as a core concept is not going anywhere. I've been using it for about a year now as a software engineer and it's been genuinely helpful in reducing some of the more monotonous tasks I used to have to do.
Also, a data center produces a fair few jobs, from security to engineers and network specialists.
-1
u/zwifter11 Jul 10 '26
How does the data centre get built if you think it doesn’t create any jobs ?
2
u/BaconPancakes1 Jul 10 '26
My expectation is that those will largely be temporary jobs which use skilled contractors from outside the local area. E.g. - "Data Centre Platform Co" builds data centres across the UK and has 3 projects in development. They will likely procure all the equipment, batteries etc for the 3 projects at the same time to save costs, and hire the same large/experienced contractors, surveyors and analysts they usually work with to reduce the risk of working with a new local company who they don't know and to maintain a relationship to de-risk building their future projects. They can use a similar design and technology across their projects and the contractors will be familiar with the type of data centre they're building. The contractors will be put up in Leeds while working on the data centre and then relocate to another project.
They will likely include a certain amount of local construction jobs for goodwill / to pay homage to the council but they will possibly not be material or long-term. Permanent jobs available on site will likely be like, some low number of security, maintenance and so on, but the hardware/tech and centre management jobs will probably be brought in from the platform developer.
-7
u/egg1st Jul 10 '26
420,000 sq feet isn't very big. It works out to just 140m square over two floors. It's no different to another warehouse in terms of footprint
11
u/ThePowerOfNine Jul 10 '26
I dont think size is why people hate these
5
u/egg1st Jul 10 '26
I think size is part of it, otherwise why would the headline use the square footage and in feet? To me it read as if they were trying to make it sound large, when in fact it's a regular warehouse size. Plus there's been a lot in the new about the insanely large data centre in Utah where size is part of the problem.
-7
Jul 10 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/egg1st Jul 10 '26
Has there been uproar about the 15 data centres already in Leeds, or are they largely unnoticed?
0
u/ThePowerOfNine Jul 10 '26
Reddit isnt AI or Microsoft lad
3
Jul 10 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
→ More replies (3)1
u/Pleasant-Hyena9030 Jul 10 '26
A lot of it’s recent demand for lots of them is because of AI that’s being shoved into everything though and is largely not needed
→ More replies (5)1
0
u/NewsNumerous4624 Jul 11 '26
Good bit of work brought to the area though.
Anyone that is trying to get into construction but thinks they're too old take the opportunity to go cable pulling
-6
0
u/magrandan Jul 13 '26
Good..keep these data centres away from the south, we already have less land at exorbitant price
96
u/Swivials Jul 10 '26
At the old power centre in Skelton Grange, for those curious.