Britain’s ambitions for AI are bringing new opportunities for investment, alongside questions from communities about what data centres mean for local land, electricity and water. With major technology companies warning that opposition could threaten construction, demonstrating tangible local benefits is becoming central to the sector’s prospects.
The political challenge is that the benefits of digital growth can appear national or global, while its physical consequences are concentrated in particular places. Developers able to connect their investment to local priorities have a stronger basis for building support and demonstrating the contribution their projects can make.
Helsinki offers a compelling way to bring those interests closer together. Energy company Helen and developer OnZero have agreed to connect a planned AI facility to the city’s district heating network, with heat recovery scheduled to begin in 2027. Once fully operational, the facility could supply more than 500,000 megawatt-hours annually, equivalent to the heating needs of around 70,000 flats.
By capturing heat from liquid-cooled servers and using industrial heat pumps to raise it to the temperature needed by the district heating network, the project would turn a by-product of AI computing into a useful energy source for the city.
This would give OnZero an additional revenue stream from heat sales, while providing Helen with heat for its customers and creating a direct connection between digital investment and local energy needs.
The lesson extends beyond the technology, because the opportunity depends on proximity, infrastructure and a willing buyer. Heat that is abundant but distant from customers may have little practical value, whereas a well-located facility connected to sustained demand can become part of a city’s energy system.
Helsinki’s existing network provides a foundation that British projects would need to replicate or connect into. For heat network developers, this creates an opportunity to work with data centre investors and local authorities to identify commercially viable partnerships from the outset.
The role of strategic planning
England’s emerging Spatial Development Strategy regime offers a timely framework for that coordination. Established through the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, the new system provides for strategies looking at least 20 years ahead, bringing together housing growth, economic development and strategic infrastructure across council boundaries, with local plans required to be in general conformity.
Heat recovery should help inform those strategies, with authorities and developers mapping data centres and industrial heat sources against existing neighbourhoods, planned housing and other commercial and public development. Considering these developments together could influence site selection, identify pipeline routes and align investment before separate decisions make connection prohibitively expensive.
Early engagement would need to bring strategic authorities, councils, developers, energy operators and major customers around the same table, while location and design choices remain open. Residents and housing providers should also help shape the proposition, giving developers a clearer understanding of customer expectations and the factors that would encourage connection.
A commercially robust partnership would then require funded infrastructure, long-term heat-purchase agreements and clear arrangements for pricing, backup supply and changes in computing activity. Heat-pump energy use and seasonal demand would need to be reflected in the business case, with clear communication about the benefits the scheme can realistically deliver.
Helsinki gives Britain’s planning reforms a practical test of whether they can connect developments whose combined value exceeds what each delivers alone. For data centre and heat network developers alike, the opportunity is to establish partnerships that strengthen the investment case while making the benefits of digital growth visible beyond the site boundary.