Data Centers in Crawley

Crawley – Strategic London Edge Colocation

Executive Summary

Crawley is a key data center market for businesses requiring low-latency performance for London and Southern England without the cost and congestion of Central London. This market offers a compelling blend of resilient infrastructure and strategic location, making it an ideal choice for production and disaster recovery workloads serving the UK's primary economic hub. Its proximity to major international fiber routes and transportation links ensures reliable and high-speed connectivity.

Crawley: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

Crawley has established itself as a vital data center cluster just south of London, offering a rich and diverse connectivity environment. It serves as a key location for enterprises looking to serve the London metro area while mitigating the risks of deploying in the city center.

Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality With facilities operated by 11 providers, the market provides access to a solid ecosystem of national and international carriers as of September 2025. Carrier-neutral data centers are the standard, offering diverse fiber paths and competitive pricing for transit and transport.

Direct Cloud On-Ramps There are no direct public cloud on-ramps located within Crawley itself. However, dedicated and redundant fiber paths provide low-latency access to the full suite of cloud providers in London, which has 0 cloud regions. All major clouds, including AWS, Google Cloud (GCP), and Microsoft Azure, are reachable via private network interconnects or Layer 2 extensions from Crawley-based facilities.

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) Public peering is primarily handled through the major London-based exchanges, such as LINX and LONAP. Data centers in Crawley offer direct and resilient connections to these IXPs, allowing for efficient traffic exchange with hundreds of networks.

Bare Metal Bare metal server options are readily available from providers in the area. Companies like Hivelocity and phoenixNAP offer dedicated server solutions that provide the performance and control needed for demanding applications.

Power Analysis

Average Cost Of Power Industrial power costs in the region are approximately £0.17/kWh as of September 2025. This rate is characteristic of the broader UK market and can be a significant operational factor for high-density deployments. The UK's energy mix includes a substantial share from renewables (around 40–50%), followed by natural gas and nuclear.

Power Grid Reliability The power infrastructure supporting Crawley's data center zones is well-engineered and reliable. Facilities are typically fed by multiple substations, with significant investment in grid redundancy to ensure high levels of uptime required for mission-critical operations.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

Proximity To Key Business Districts Crawley’s strategic location next to Gatwick Airport and the M23 motorway provides direct access to Central London, approximately 30 miles away. This proximity is critical for financial services, media, and technology companies that need to be near London's commercial heart but prefer the operational advantages of a suburban campus.

Regional Market Reach From Crawley, businesses can effectively serve the entire South East of England, the UK’s most populous and economically active region. The location is also an excellent landing point for transatlantic connectivity and a gateway to continental Europe.

Tax Advantage For Data Centers The United Kingdom does not currently offer specific tax breaks or financial incentives for data center construction or operations. Businesses, however, can leverage the UK's standard corporate tax policies and potential R&D tax credits for qualifying technology investments.

Natural Disaster Risk

Crawley has a very low natural disaster risk profile, with an INFORM Risk score of 2.1 out of 10 as of September 2025. The region is not prone to significant seismic activity, tropical cyclones, or other severe weather events that could threaten data center uptime.

Key environmental risks to consider include:

• River Flooding: The area has a moderate risk of river flooding, which is the most significant natural hazard for the region. Site selection and facility engineering are critical to mitigate this risk.
• Coastal Flooding: While not a direct threat to the inland location of Crawley, severe coastal events could impact regional infrastructure.
• Drought: The region has some exposure to drought conditions, but this poses little direct risk to properly designed data center cooling systems.