Capacity demand increases despite ‘more cautious’ construction environment

Lucy Darling, a partner at Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB UK), discusses the findings of the organisation’s recent Construction Market Intelligence Q3 2025 report, which finds that power constraints in London have prompted increased data centre investment in other regions, including Greater Manchester, Newcastle, Wales and Scotland. Lucy also outlines some of the other challenges facing the data centre sector, including tariffs introduced during Trump’s presidency, combined with environmental regulations, contractor insolvencies and longer lead times for key equipment -all creating a more cautious construction environment.