Optronix Optronix
←→ navigate F fullscreen contents

Could a data centre
go here?

An independent, evidence-based assessment for landowners, developers and investors: what your site can realistically support, what it is worth, and the right path to unlock it.
Service pack    Commercial in Confidence
→  to begin    F for fullscreen
Contents

What we'll cover.

    01 — The opportunity

    Demand is compounding.
    Suitable sites are scarce.

    Cloud adoption, AI workloads and digitisation are driving operators and investors to hunt for land, industrial buildings and legacy facilities across the UK and Europe.

    3×UK data centre demand growth forecast by 2030
    £40bn+planned UK data centre investment pipeline
    90days, the typical assessment delivery timeline
    Land Industrial buildings Legacy facilities Grid capacity is the first question on all three.
    01 — The opportunity

    Three paths.
    Very different outcomes.

    Planning Build Operate Planning Build Lease Planning Sale Develop & operate The highest return, and the highest capital requirement and delivery risk. Develop & lease Long-term income with shared risk, at the cost of a slice of the upside. Sell with consent Sold to a specialist buyer. The fastest, cleanest capital event. Your site Land, building or legacy facility
    Path 01

    Develop & operate

    Each path carries different capital, risk, timelines and returns. Choosing between them on evidence is what the assessment is for.
    02 — What makes a site suitable

    What we look at, on the ground.

    Site boundary Surplus land Protected woodland Flood zone Existing building Access Substation Grid supply point Water Neighbours Public highway Carrier duct route

    An illustrative site, and the checks we run on one. Every assessment starts with what is actually there.

    02 — What makes a site suitable

    Operators score every site the same way.

    Technical criteria

    Commercial criteria

    35out of 50

    Credible

    Two or three criteria are carrying this, and the weak ones are where an operator will push.

    Illustrative scoring, one to five on each criterion. In a real assessment the criteria are weighted and evidenced, and grid connection carries the most weight of any of them.

    02 — What makes a site suitable

    Existing industrial assets
    are frequently undervalued.

    Power infrastructure, structural steel, clear-span floor plates and established grid connections would cost tens of millions to replicate from scratch. Our assessment quantifies what is already in place, and what it is worth to a data centre developer or operator.

    Grid connections

    A live connection with real capacity is the hardest thing on this list to buy, and the longest to wait for.

    Power infrastructure

    Substations, HV switchgear and distribution already in place, with life left in them.

    Structural steel

    A frame that will carry plant and containment, standing and already paid for.

    Clear-span floor plates

    Column-free floor area is what a hall layout needs, and it cannot be added later.

    03 — What the assessment delivers

    Six workstreams. One clear recommendation.

    Each workstream becomes a section of the report. The sixth is a recommendation, not a list of options.

    01

    Site & infrastructure

    Structural review, power availability, cooling potential, connectivity and asset condition.

    02

    Planning & regulatory

    Development plan alignment, planning history, constraints and likely consent timeline.

    03

    Grid & power analysis

    Existing capacity, upgrade pathway and cost, renewables options, DNO engagement.

    04

    Market demand

    Operator demand, competitive supply, hyperscale vs colocation vs edge fit for your site.

    05

    Financial modelling

    Three-scenario ROI model, develop & operate, develop & lease, or sell, with payback and risk-adjusted return.

    06

    Strategic recommendation

    Not a list of options, but a considered, evidence-backed view on the right path for your situation.

    03 — What the assessment delivers

    What lands on the table.

    FEASIBILITY ASSESSMENT Contents 01Site & infrastructure02Planning & regulatory03Grid & power analysis04Market demand05Financial modelling06Strategic recommendation Optronix, commercial in confidence

    The assessment

    Six workstreams written up in full, with the evidence behind every finding.

    FINANCIAL MODEL Three scenarios Develop &operate Develop &lease Sell withconsent CapitalIncomePayback Risk-adjustedreturn

    The financial model

    Three-scenario ROI model, develop & operate, develop & lease, or sell, with payback and risk-adjusted return.

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Recommendation SUPPORTING FINDINGS Prepared for the board

    The executive summary

    Board-ready, with the recommendation and the reasoning on the first page.

    Example layouts. The findings and the figures come from your site.

    03 — What the assessment delivers

    If the answer is sell,
    we know the buyers.

    Optronix maintains active relationships with four qualified operators and investors currently seeking UK and European sites, from single-digit MW to campus scale, greenfield to legacy facilities.

    Separate engagement

    The introduction service is independent of the assessment. No obligation, and terms agreed before any approach is made.

    Structured introductions

    Where your site fits a live requirement, we arrange the introduction and support the technical dialogue on both sides.

    Honest by design

    The assessment stands alone. Our recommendation is credible to investors precisely because we don't need it to end in a sale.

    04 — Case study

    A 200-acre university campus, two latent assets.

    University campus, 200 acres Existing facility 800kW, ageing Surplus land decades of it, unused Adjacent land 8MW confirmed within 12 months Track 1, refurbish Track 2, build 5MW

    An ageing 800kW facility and decades of surplus land. We assessed both in parallel, with surveys, DNO engagement, planning review, market study and a four-path financial model, and the result went straight to the governing council.

    Outcome: a dual-track strategy, phased refurbishment plus a planning application for a new 5MW facility on surplus land.

    8MWgrid capacity confirmed on adjacent land within 12 months
    2.4 to 1.4PUE improvement pathway for the existing facility
    40%reduction in operational energy cost
    £2.5m/yrprojected lease income from the new 5MW colocation facility
    04 — Why Optronix

    We assess sites the way we build them.

    We build these things

    We deliver data centre infrastructure for some of the world's most demanding operators: AWS, Microsoft, Oracle, Meta. We know exactly what they look for, because we deliver it every day.

    EMEA-wide perspective

    Active across the UK, Europe and the Middle East, with reach into North America, Singapore, Australia and Japan, so your site is benchmarked against real competing locations.

    Independent advice

    A standalone advisory engagement, not a construction contract through the back door. If the right answer is to sell rather than develop, that is what we will tell you.

    End-to-end capability

    If development is the answer, we take you from planning to a live facility: design, procurement, project management, commissioning and operations.

    04 — Why Optronix

    Where our engineers have worked.

    USAUKEuropeMiddle EastAustralia
    05 — Working with us

    Fixed fee. Fixed scope. 90 days.

    Day 42
    Drag the day
    Complete
    Under way
    Next

    Illustrative programme shape. The dates are agreed with the scope.

    Fee £75,000 to £100,000 fixed, staged against milestones. Typical development capital for a data centre is £5m to £10m per MW.
    05 — Working with us

    More detail, deck by deck.

    AdviceProfessional ServicesIndependent advice at the point the decision is made.Open deck → SourcingSourcing & AdvisoryFinding and choosing the right data centre and provider.Open deck → AuditData Centre AssessmentsAn objective on-site audit of resilience, capacity and cabling.Open deck → BuildDesign & BuildFrom first sketch to final handover, delivered and certified.Open deck → Power and coolingM&E EngineeringPower and cooling designed, installed and proven.Open deck → The hallWhitespace Fit-outFrom an empty shell to a live hall.Open deck → Day twoManaged OperationsFive tiers of managed data centre and network operations.Open deck → ProofCase StudiesFive engagements, with the results and what the clients said.Open deck →
    Next step

    Tell us about the site.
    We'll tell you what it can support.

    An address, a site plan and whatever you know about the power supply are enough to start. We will come back with the scope, a fixed fee and a programme.

    Anthony Hobley
    Technical Director
    +44 (0) 7450 337795
    anthony.hobley@optronix.co.uk     Email Anthony →     Matt Stockill
    Sales Manager
    +44 (0) 7768 360149
    matt.stockill@optronix.co.uk     Email Matt →
    optronix.co.ukEvery service, across the lifecycle Company Overview DeckWho we are, and everything else we do LinkedInWhat we are working on, as it happens

    Data Centre Lifecycle Experts