The insatiable appetite for digitalization compounded by the pandemic has accelerated competition within communities for land attached to low-cost power and vast water reserves - a finite asset.

As PE backed-colocation and the vast revenues of cloud tech giants propel them to the top of the land acquisition bidding list, the previously ‘unknown’, ‘unseen’ and ‘unheard of’ data center is uniquely tasked with building for continued growth whilst remaining conscious of the impact on the local and wider community.

We ask the panel how operators and developers what it means to be a ‘good neighbour’, whether a data center could be used to benefit its local community and how best to approach communal concerns around resource availability, a facility’s carbon footprint and contribution to the economic landscape.