Amazon has announced plans to invest a staggering £40 billion ($54 billion) in the United Kingdom – an investment that has been welcomed by the British Prime Minister.
Both the government and Amazon announced the planned investment over three years, and said it will create thousands of new full-time jobs, four new fulfilment centres, and two new London office buildings.
However campaigners have recently flagged concerns about the energy consumption for the new AWS data centres that are planned for Bedfordshire.
Amazon office building plans in London. Image credit Amazon
UK investment
Amazon and the government said the £40 billion investment in the UK over the next years (2025 to 2027) includes “building four new fulfilment centres and new delivery stations nationwide, as well as upgrades and expansions to its existing network of over 100 operations buildings across the country.”
The vast majority of the thousands of new permanent, full-time jobs in the UK, will be outside of London and the South East.
These include 2,000 jobs at the previously announced fulfilment centre in Hull, and 2,000 jobs at another in Northampton. Additional positions will be created at new sites in the East Midlands and at delivery stations across the country.
Amazon said the investment and new jobs will contribute an estimated additional £38 billion to the UK’s GDP.
Meanwhile the previous data centre investment is expected to contribute £14 billion to the UK economy over 5 years (2024-2028) and support 14,000 full-time equivalent jobs each year.
“Amazon has been proud to serve our customers in the UK for the past 27 years,” said Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy. “Thanks to their support, we’ve grown to be part of over 100 communities nationwide, from developing drone technology in Darlington to producing world-class entertainment at our studios in Bray.”
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy. Image credit Amazon
“We now employ over 75,000 people and have become one of the UK’s largest private sector employers and taxpayers,” said Jassy. “When Amazon invests, it’s not only in London and the South East – we’re bringing innovation and job creation to communities throughout England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, strengthening the UK’s economy and delivering better experiences for customers wherever they live.”
“Amazon’s £40 billion investment adds another major win to Britain’s basket and is a massive vote of confidence in the UK as the best place to do business,” said the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
“It means thousands of new jobs – real opportunities for people in every corner of the country to build careers, learn new skills, and support their families,” said the Prime Minister. “Whether it’s cutting-edge AI or same-day delivery, this deal shows that our Plan for Change is working – bringing in investment, driving growth, and putting more money in people’s pockets.”
Data centre consumption
The only rain on this investment parade came earlier this week when campaigners had flagged the power consumption of two new AWS data centres planned for construction near Houghton Regis, in the home county of Bedfordshire, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Researchers at Global Action Plan, which is campaigning against the development, reportedly said the plans filed with Central Bedfordshire Council by Colliers Properties, a known partner of Amazon Web Services (AWS), showed the scale of the power needs of the new data centres.
According to the report the proposed data centre are projected to consume around 114.8 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity a year.
This is equivalent to the power consumed by more than 42,500 UK households, larger than the 41,955 homes (as of 2021 census) in the northern town of Burnley.
Planning documents filed with Central Beds Council reportedly show the two data centres will include 42 back-up diesel generators, each around 25 metres tall, that need to be powered up fortnightly to check they are working.
