Methodology

What we include

The map covers the regional compute corridor: very large campuses and other significant data centre proposals in Yorkshire, the Humber, and Teesside. That includes large brownfield and farmland schemes, and smaller heat-reuse sites where they change the local environmental picture (for example Deep Green Bradford). It is not limited to the biggest cloud operators alone.

How to read our choices

AI and cloud services can look weightless in software. On the ground they mean grid connections, land take, cooling water, and contested planning. This site exists to make that physical footprint across Yorkshire, the Humber, and Teesside visible and comparable. The angle is disclosed, not neutral. Within it the rules are strict: every number is sourced or null; claims are shown as claims; we let sourced figures and side-by-side comparisons make the case, and we avoid loaded adjectives.

We lead with stated power size because that is what planning documents and press releases give, and because operators here do not publish load factor (what share of that peak they expect to use day to day). Comparison units (kettles, local geography, homes, water, land) are chosen so communities can feel the scale without a specialist glossary. Evidence that would change a figure: a planning document page, a metered disclosure, or a correction from a named operator via the right-of-reply channel.

Evidence standard

• Press releases and operator statements are not evidence for site capacity on their own. Where a planning document gives no figure, we still show the operator’s number, labelled Operator, and keep it out of the planning-document total: regional totals are split into megawatts in planning documents and megawatts stated only by operators.
• “Sourced” means a specific document and page or paragraph, not merely “the planning portal”.
• A claim with no published data is labelled no public data.
• Campaign sources are labelled as campaign sources.
• No status above proposed without a resolving link to the live planning application.
• When we add a source, we should also save an archived copy. Gaps are listed on the Research page and in the data changelog.

Where a figure came from

Operator

Operator or promoter figure, never presented as verified fact.

Planning

Taken from a planning application document.

Estimated

Derived with stated assumptions; shown as a range when more than one assumption is required.

Measured

Metered or otherwise measured disclosure.

Stated size is not electricity use

When this site says Stated size, it means how large that data-centre scheme claims to be, in megawatts: usually the biggest size stated for that site, otherwise the grid connection applied for, otherwise the first stage only, otherwise the IT-equipment load. The source for the chosen figure sits with the number on the site page and map panel. That is a size on paper for one site. It is not how much electricity the facility will draw while running, and it is not a regional total when two schemes publish the same figure.

No operator on this map discloses expected load factor (the share of peak power used on average), so yearly electricity figures are shown as a range, not as a known total.

• Stated size (nameplate or contracted): fair for like-for-like size comparisons only (for example kettles). Measured in megawatts (MW).
• Assumed average use: stated size × 40-70% load factor. All energy comparisons use this, always as a range.
• Measured energy: supersedes assumptions when available.

Published data-centre literature band (about 40-70% utilisation of nameplate). No operator on this map discloses an expected load factor.

Conversion factors

• Kettle: 3 kilowatts continuous (like-for-like power comparison, not annual use).
• Home: 2,700 kilowatt-hours per year. Source: Ofgem and Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) typical domestic electricity consumption figure used in UK comparisons.
• Local geography: Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) subnational electricity consumption at local-authority level. A site whose assumed use is smaller than the smallest council area listed is shown as a percentage of that council, not as the whole council. Download the local consumption figures.
• Water: 141 litres per person per day. Source: Yorkshire Water reported average per-capita domestic use (litres/person/day). Olympic swimming pool as a secondary unit.
• Land: acres to football pitches (Football Association pitch about 105×68 metres, roughly 1.76 acres). Wheat-foregone only where Agricultural Land Classification (ALC) grades support a yield comparison, and then only on the best and most versatile (BMV) hectares, grades 1, 2, and 3a.
• Drax biomass: pellet tonnes and forestry hectares as ranges. No tree counts in this version.

Circle scaling

Map circles scale by the best available power size for that site, in fixed field priority: biggest size stated for that site, then grid connection applied for, then first stage only, then IT-equipment load. Each site page states which field was used and the source of that figure. If two sites publish the same megawatts, both keep that size (joint maximum); compare ranks them equal and lists them A-Z. Conflicting maxima in different documents: we record one figure with its source. We do not average. Map circle sizes follow the megawatt key in the legend, which squeezes the range so a 5.6 MW site stays clickable beside a 1 gigawatt (1,000 MW) scheme. Do not treat circle area as proportional to megawatts on the map. Compare does use true proportions: twice the megawatts is twice the area. Sites with no disclosed megawatts render as dashed circles sized by site area (acres). If area is also unknown, a small dashed marker still appears at the published location (Eggborough today). That marks presence only, not a size claim. Colour encodes planning status with a colour-vision-friendly set (warm stone, purple, ochre, teal, blue) so consecutive stages stay in distant hues. Outline style (solid vs dashed) is separate: whether megawatts are disclosed. The compare view draws circles so area matches megawatts (twice the power looks twice as large).

AI Growth Zone overlay

The optional overlay on the map shows where AI Growth Zones (AIGZ) are being sought across the region. None of them is designated. As of July 2026 the confirmed UK zones are Oxfordshire, the North East, North Wales, South Wales, and Scotland (see the GOV.UK register); the four below are live bids. Each is drawn as an indicative circle around the bid's lead site, so the shaded area shows an approximate location rather than an official boundary.

• York & North Yorkshire (bid). Centred on Drax power station, near Selby. Bid led by the York & North Yorkshire Combined Authority, built around a proposed AI and clean-energy campus at Drax. York & North Yorkshire Combined Authority.
• South Yorkshire (bid). Doncaster / Gateway East (SYMCA). Expression of interest from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, led by Doncaster and the Gateway East site. Doncaster Chamber of Commerce.
• Northern Lincolnshire (bid). Humber Tech Park, near Scunthorpe. North Lincolnshire Council bid for a multi-gigawatt zone anchored on the proposed Humber Tech Park. North Lincolnshire Council.
• Teesside (bid). Teesworks freeport, near Middlesbrough. Candidate championed by the Tees Valley Combined Authority, centred on a large data-centre proposal on the former Teesworks steelworks. Place North East.

Standing right of reply

Any named operator or developer may respond to any figure or claim on this site. Responses are published in full on the relevant site page, with the date they were received. Send responses to marco@prismaticlabs.ai. Suggested subject: “Yorkshire Compute Belt: right of reply”. Or open a GitHub issue. Site pages show “Right of reply: open; no response received” rather than silence.

Corrections policy

Material errors are corrected in the data file and noted in the repository’s data/CHANGELOG.md (visible before launch, updated with each correction). Prefer a planning-document page citation. Councillors and people in affected communities without a GitHub account can email marco@prismaticlabs.ai. Suggested subject: “Yorkshire Compute Belt: correction”. Nothing on the public site writes the data file directly; every tip is checked by editors first.

How fresh the figures are

Each site shows when we last reviewed its figures. If the typical review age across the map goes past 120 days, a banner appears site-wide so outdated data is obvious, not quietly wrong.

Claim statuses

On each site page, operator claims carry a status about the public record: unverified, no public data, or no longer stated. That describes what is published, not a verdict that the claim is true or false.

Open data

Sites ship as GeoJSON (data/sites.geojson), coordinates [longitude, latitude]. Schema versioned from day one. Region config lives in data/config.json. Download: sites.geojson, schema, local consumption.