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The construction answer is not a single price per megawatt. A data-centre cost model must connect land, grid capacity, electrical and cooling design, programme risk, sustainability requirements and commercial scope. The published case behind this topic is a notional 30MW facility in southern England, useful for understanding the questions a model should answer but not a quotation for a live project or a current market benchmark. Its detailed cost lines are behind a subscriber paywall, so no responsible article can reproduce a verified total from it.
What the 30MW case study actually represents
Building published Turner & Townsend Alinea’s feature on 13 June 2024. It presents a cost model for a notional 30MW data centre in southern England and discusses the market and commercial conditions that shape delivery. “Notional” matters: the facility is an analytical case, not an approved scheme, tender return, guaranteed price or budget for a particular site. Construction prices, grid queues, planning requirements, financing costs and equipment lead times can all change after the article’s publication.
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The public extract does not expose the model’s individual allowances, quantities, exclusions or escalation assumptions. It therefore cannot support a reconstructed table of pounds per megawatt, a claimed total project cost or a statement that the model includes (or excludes) a particular mechanical, electrical or IT package. Any estimate that presents such figures as coming from the article would be false precision.
Why power and land now dominate the brief
Demand is constrained by two physical inputs: a suitable site and dependable electricity. A building can be designed quickly on paper, but a site without a credible connection date is not an executable data-centre project.
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The electricity context
The Office for National Statistics, using Department for Energy Security and Net Zero data, estimates that data centres consumed 4.5 TWh in Great Britain in 2024. That was approximately 2% of the 249.2 TWh of grid electricity consumed in Great Britain in the same year. The geography, year and measurement scope belong with the figures: they are not a worldwide total and do not describe every type of UK facility.
ONS also explains that official data are limited. Its described consumption series uses matched meter-level data for data centres serving external organisations, so the estimate does not cover enterprise centres in the same way. ONS’s warning is direct: “There are no regularly updated official data sources available on data centres.” Treat national statistics as a defined evidence base, not a complete live register of every rack and generator.
Capacity is regional, not interchangeable
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology publication Estimate of Data Centre Capacity: Great Britain 2024, published on 1 May 2025, reports estimated capacity by region in megawatts across England, Scotland and Wales. The title refers to the 2024 measurement year; the publication date is 2025. A regional figure should be quoted only from the underlying official table, with its region and unit attached. Capacity in one region cannot simply be treated as available capacity at a different site.
Connection risk is a programme risk
Turner & Townsend’s 2025–2026 index reports that 48% of survey respondents identified power availability as the leading obstacle to delivering projects on schedule. That is the consultancy’s survey result, not a census or universal probability. Its accompanying discussion highlights long lead times for grid connections. In a model, the connection date should therefore drive the programme and cash-flow logic, rather than appear as a minor utility line added after the building has been costed.
Set the boundary before entering a number
A credible cost plan starts with a written scope boundary. “Data-centre cost” can mean the building and infrastructure, the IT equipment installed inside it, the cost of energising and operating it, or all three. Those are different investment decisions.
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- Construction and infrastructure: land enabling works, roads and drainage, foundations, structural frame, envelope, internal fit-out, electrical distribution, standby generation, cooling, fire protection, security, controls and commissioning.
- Professional and development costs: surveys, design, planning, statutory approvals, project management, testing, legal costs and finance-related allowances where the client elects to include them.
- Technology fit-out: servers, storage, network equipment, racks and customer-specific systems. These should be a separately identified package unless the brief explicitly combines them.
- Operating expenditure: electricity, fuel, maintenance, staffing, rates and lifecycle replacements. A construction estimate should not silently present these recurring costs as capital cost.
The public extract confirms that construction costing is discussed, but it does not reveal the article’s exact scope or exclusions. Use the categories above as a modelling framework to agree with the client; do not label them as the hidden 2024 model’s contents.
Build the model in decision order
1. Define the service and resilience requirement
Record IT load in megawatts, growth phases, rack density, availability target, maintenance philosophy and the date on which each phase must be usable. “30MW” needs a definition: it may describe IT load, incoming utility capacity or a later ultimate phase. Those interpretations produce different substations, generators, cooling plant, floor areas and costs.
2. Prove the site and power path
Map the plot, access, flood and ground conditions, planning constraints, neighbouring uses, fibre routes and the electrical route from the grid connection to the white space. Obtain written information on the proposed connection point, voltage, reinforcement responsibility, capacity, protection requirements, milestones and security or connection charges. Show the earliest energisation date and the date each later phase can be added.
3. Establish a quantity-backed baseline
Turn the brief into measurable quantities: gross and technical floor areas, concrete and steel, cable lengths, transformer and switchgear ratings, generator count, fuel storage, chiller or heat-rejection capacity, pipework, containment, controls and security systems. Apply rates with a stated location, currency date, procurement route and source. Separate measured quantities from percentage allowances so that design changes do not hide inside a single contingency.
4. Price the programme, not only the elements
Model design, planning, long-lead procurement, enabling works, construction, testing, integrated systems testing, client fit-out and handover as linked activities. A transformer or generator with a long manufacture period can control the critical path even when its purchase value is a small share of the total. Include temporary power, storage, expediting, factory inspections and retesting where the selected sequence requires them.
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5. Add escalation and risk transparently
State the base date and the period over which prices are escalated. Keep design development, site uncertainty, utilities, market movement, client change and contractor risk in separate registers. A single percentage contingency makes it impossible to tell whether a forecast moved because of a changed design, a delayed connection or a market price increase.
6. Test alternatives as scenarios
Run at least a grid-led baseline and alternatives that change the connection strategy, phasing, cooling architecture, generation, storage or renewable supply. For each scenario, show capital cost, earliest useful capacity, operational-energy implications, land requirement, emissions assumptions, planning dependencies and residual risks. The purpose is to expose trade-offs; it is not to claim that one option is universally cheaper.
7. Freeze a governance version
Give every estimate a revision, author, assumptions register, measurement date and approval status. Identify which values are supplier quotations, which are market allowances and which remain unpriced. Reforecast when the utility offer, planning consent, equipment design or phasing changes.
The cost drivers a project team must challenge
Land, location and enabling works
Land price is only one location variable. A remote plot may need new roads, drainage, substations, fibre routes and staff transport. An urban or constrained site may require complex logistics, acoustic treatment, demolition, abnormal foundations or restricted working hours. Compare the whole enabling package and programme, not the headline land transaction alone.
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Grid connection and electrical resilience
Connection works can include substations, transformers, switchgear, protection, metering, civil compounds, cabling, utility reinforcement and the client’s own distribution. Resilience may require dual utility paths, standby generators, fuel systems, batteries, uninterruptible power supplies and controls. The model should identify ownership and interface for each item; an apparently low construction allowance can simply mean that a utility or tenant has been left to pay it later.
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Cooling and water strategy
Cooling plant, heat rejection, pumps, pipework, controls and water infrastructure respond to rack density, climate, humidity limits and redundancy. Air, chilled-water, evaporative and liquid-cooling arrangements have different plant areas, water demands, maintenance regimes and commissioning sequences. Select a reference design before comparing rates, and record the environmental conditions and resilience level behind it.
Programme and procurement
Early release of long-lead equipment can protect the schedule but creates design-interface and storage risk. Design-and-build, construction management and other delivery routes allocate design responsibility, price certainty and contingency differently. A model should show when money is committed, when equipment is delivered and when capacity earns revenue, not just the final construction sum.
Sustainability requirements
Energy performance, embodied carbon, water use, refrigerants, waste, noise and backup-fuel emissions can alter both capital design and approvals. The cheapest compliant concept may have higher operating exposure; a higher-capital option may reduce energy or carbon, but that benefit must be quantified for the project’s tariff, load profile and lifetime. Do not treat a sustainability label as a substitute for an energy model.
Compare delivery approaches without inventing premiums
| Approach to test | Power and connection question | Land and construction question | Schedule and commercial issue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grid-led, single phase | Is firm capacity available by the required energisation date, and who funds reinforcement? | Can the site accommodate the full substation, generation and cooling arrangement? | Large early commitment; a delayed connection can strand completed works. |
| Phased or modular capacity | Can the connection and plant be commissioned in usable increments? | Can later modules be added without rebuilding live systems or access routes? | May align spend with demand, but interfaces and temporary works need explicit allowances. |
| On-site generation and storage support | What operating hours, fuel, emissions, controls and planning permissions apply? | Is there space and a safe separation distance for generators, batteries and fuel systems? | Reduces dependence on a single connection path only if the system is permitted, financed and tested. |
| Grid-independent or hybrid concept | What firm capacity and redundancy can be guaranteed through generation, storage and renewables? | Does the site have enough area for generation, energy storage and heat rejection? | Potentially complex ownership, maintenance and operational risk; suitability is project-specific. |
Turner & Townsend discusses on-site renewable generation, energy storage and grid-independent solutions as responses to power constraints. The discussion does not prove that any option is suitable or cheaper for a particular facility. Keep each alternative as a quantified scenario with explicit technical and planning assumptions.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Make the model useful to investors and delivery teams
Present the result in layers so a decision-maker can see what is known and what could move:
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- Base estimate: the defined reference design, measured quantities and stated price date.
- Client and statutory allowances: items not yet designed but required by the brief or approval process.
- Risk and opportunity register: named events, probability, impact, owner and mitigation, rather than an unexplained lump sum.
- Scenario outputs: connection strategy, phasing, cooling and energy alternatives with capital, programme and operating consequences.
- Cash-flow curve: design, enabling works, long-lead deposits, construction, commissioning and fit-out by period.
Decision gates should require evidence: a utility offer before treating capacity as firm; planning advice before locking in plant; a geotechnical report before fixing foundations; and supplier budget quotations before relying on a long-lead rate. When evidence is missing, mark the item as an assumption and show its sensitivity.
What current evidence can—and cannot—say
The 2024 southern-England case helps frame the commercial questions, but it is not current construction pricing. The ONS consumption estimate is for Great Britain in 2024 and a defined set of externally serving centres. The DSIT capacity publication estimates 2024 regional capacity but was issued on 1 May 2025. The 48% power-availability result comes from Turner & Townsend’s 2025 survey. These dates and scopes should remain attached whenever the figures are used.
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Questions to settle before approving a budget
- Does the stated megawatt figure mean IT load, utility import or ultimate phased capacity?
- What connection date is documented, and which reinforcement works sit outside the client’s package?
- Which costs are capital construction, tenant IT, finance, and recurring operation?
- What resilience, maintenance and availability standard is being priced?
- Are cooling, water, noise, emissions and carbon requirements fixed or still options?
- Which equipment has a lead time capable of controlling the critical path?
- What site surveys, planning decisions and supplier quotations remain outstanding?
- How will the estimate be refreshed as grid conditions, energy prices and policy change?
Conclusion: cost certainty starts with capacity certainty
Construction can meet data-centre demand when the project treats power and land as first-order design constraints, not late-stage services. A transparent model defines the load, proves the connection path, measures the physical design, separates construction from IT and operations, and compares phased, renewable, storage and hybrid strategies without pretending that an unverified premium or saving exists. The 30MW southern-England case is a useful prompt for that discipline; obtaining a live budget still requires a site-specific utility offer, design, programme, market pricing and risk review.
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