How do you balance the need for speed-to-market with long lead times for permitting, grid connection, and construction in Europe?

James Lapushner,

CIO, Anacott Capital

Luigi Pettinicchio,

CEO, Asper Investment Management

We use a layered approach: secure land and entitlements early, pursue modular and pre-fabricated building systems to compress construction time, and negotiate conditional offtake or "forward reservation" agreements with customers to de-risk early spend. Financially, we model conservative connection timelines and maintain a pipeline of smaller modular sites that can come online faster while larger campuses await grid upgrades. Active stakeholder engagement (grid operators, municipalities, regulators) is essential to accelerate critical path items.

We are energy investors so not quite fully "in the race" so far, rather approaching energy-integrated data centre opportunities as option-building exercises, starting with local screening and stakeholder engagement—allowing flexibility amid market uncertainty and permitting complexity.

Gyula Törzök,

Director of Innovation & Strategic Programmes, Thames Estuary

Helena Fagraeus, Lundstrom,

CEO, T. Loop

Umaima Haider,

Senior Lecturer - Computer Science & Digital Technologies, University of East London

In Europe, speed-to-market is often constrained by long permitting and grid-connection lead times. Successful developers mitigate this by prioritising shovel-ready or repurposed industrial sites with existing planning consent and grid capacity, running permitting and design in parallel, delivering in phased modules tied to power availability, and sometimes using hybrid on-site power to bridge grid delays. In the Thames Estuary, we have supported projects that redeployed permitted industrial land or converted existing buildings for data-centre use, enabling investors to deliver initial capacity faster while awaiting full grid reinforcement. This approach can help to keep the region competitive despite structural grid constraints.

We typically work with sites in already industrialised areas, which reduces permitting risk and timelines. We leverage our network among energy companies and property owners to find grid connections with short time to market, while also building pipeline where projects with longer lead times can mature over time.

Select locations with fewer legal requirements;
Have modular design approach for faster deployment.