Last week we were invited to Westminster by Maya Ellis MP, chair of the Lancashire All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), to host a session about Silicon Sands.
We were delighted to share the benefits that Silicon Sands and Lancashire have to offer the UK’s digital infrastructure, and why Blackpool is the best place to start this.
As one of the key projects within the Lancashire Growth Plan, Silicon Sands will play a key role in driving economic growth, attracting new investment and creating skilled jobs for local people.
The session at Westminster provided an important opportunity to share the vision and opportunities available, and we’re looking forward to sharing more about the progress of Silicon Sands in the coming months as we move forward with this exciting development.
Across a 40-acre site north of Blackpool Airport, Silicon Sands will be anchored by renewably powered high performance data centres, while also offering development land for businesses which could benefit from direct access to a data centre, including high performance sectors such as Artificial Intelligence, telehealth, advanced manufacturing and gaming.
A combination of internet connectivity, renewable power supplies and available land will make Silicon Sands an attractive proposition for inward investment in the whole Fylde coast.
Britain’s AI infrastructure is mostly concentrated in London and the South East, with most of it running on overseas-owned compute. The UK is spending billions of pounds renting US AI capacity, surrendering data sovereignty, and leaving the regions out of one of the most significant economic shifts of our lifetime.
Concerns are also being raised around sustainability and environmental impacts of these data centres. Lancashire and Silicon Sands provides a vital resource for Britain’s tech future, with many solutions to bring more domestic AI ownership and sustainability, including:
- Fastest transatlantic connection links in the UK – Direct 64ms latency to New York
- 3.5GW Irish Sea offshore wind – clean, local, renewable power
- Low environmental impact – renewables and closedloop cooling minimising water usage
- Grid infrastructure confirmed – 32MVA primary substation secured
- National Cyber Force at Samlesbury – proximity to cybersecurity expertise
- Waste heat to power local homes via a heat network – every kilowatt hour used sustainably twice
- Development-ready enterprise zone – planning already granted
Silicon Sands is designed to tap into more than three gigawatts of clean electricity from offshore wind farms currently being developed in the Irish Sea. This renewable energy is set to come ashore on the Fylde Coast, making it a huge strategic advantage.
The campus proposed within the Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone (EZ) is being positioned as a beacon of sustainability. With Lancaster University’s support, the project is pioneering immersion-cooling technologies to cut energy use and minimise environmental impact.
Liquid cooling can boost data centre efficiency by up to 60%, and the excess heat generated can be channelled into a district heating network, lowering costs for businesses on site and reducing waste.
Last November, Silicon Sands Ecosystem Catalyst Project secured government funding as part of the Regional Tech Booster programme, together with 13 other projects across the UK.
Our visit to Parliament was part of our mission to explain to the UK government what Lancashire needs to achieve this long-term strategy. These include:
- Designating Silicon Sands as an AI Growth Zone
- Prioritising grid access from the Irish Sea wind farm
- Appointing a senior civil servant to work with us to unlock regulatory complexity
- Using Silicon Sands to host sovereign government data
- Prioritising heat network zoning status for Blackpool
- Directing GB Energy community investment to the project
Cllr Mark Smith, said: “Silicon Sands has the potential to be a complete game-changer in our plans to make Blackpool better. With the power supply, land availability and ultra-fast internet access, we can sit at the heart of a new digital revolution not just for the town, but for the entire region.
“For Blackpool, this could mean significant inward investment and thousands of well-paid new jobs across the Fylde Coast, which in turn will retain the talent of our young people in Blackpool rather than losing them to other parts of the country, as well allowing high performance businesses of the future to grow fast on the Fylde Coast.
“For the data centre industry, Silicon Sands offers the chance to reduce its impact on the environment and on the National Grid and show a modern climate friendly future that can major regeneration benefits.”
To find out more about Silicon Sands and more ground-breaking projects, read the Lancashire Growth Plan.
