Businesses and locals are divided over a £500m plan to redevelop the Truman Brewery estate in Brick Lane, east London, which will include a new data centre that campaigners fear will cause temperatures to soar in what is already one of London’s hottest boroughs.

Blueprints for the development at what was once London’s biggest brewery, shared with The i Paper, show that ground-floor diesel generators would expel fumes just metres away from the busy street made popular by its vibrant street art, vintage shops and food culture.

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner approved the proposal late last month despite local opposition. Tower Hamlets council and campaigners wanted the site to be used for hundreds of homes but instead the plan includes offices, a cinema, shops, cafes and 44 flats.

Jonathan Moberly, a lead campaigner with the Save Brick Lane coalition group, said he was “left speechless” when he saw the plans. During the consultation process, the Environment Agency raised no objections to the project, but said the generators could expose locals to “short term peak nitrogen oxides, engine fumes/odour and noise”, according to correspondence shared with The i Paper.

In a decision letter, Labour minister Matthew Pennycook said Rayner was “satisfied that the… proposals will not result in harm to living conditions”.

Tower Hamlets council rejected the proposal last year, but the Government overturned it following an appeal by the property owners, Truman Estates and Zeloof LLP. Pennycook’s letter said there was “no detailed evidence before [Rayner] of the feasibility and deliverability of an alternative residential-led scheme”.

The Government has an ongoing £39bn plan to build new social and affordable housing over the next 10 years, with 60 per cent for social rent.

Pennycook’s letter added that the “public benefits of the data centre”, intended to provide faster internet connections for financial traders in the nearby City of London, “would be very significant indeed”, and that the redevelopment would boost spending in the local area by £48m annually.

They guzzle water

According to the proposal, the generators will only be activated if electricity supply to the data centre fails. But Spitalfields and Banglatown ward councillor Faysal Ahmed said homes and businesses in the area already experience power outages, raising concerns about the frequency at which the generators may be used.

The roof of the building will be fitted with industrial air conditioning units, which critics fear will pump hot air onto nearby residential multistories, most of which are social housing and already poorly suited to extreme heat.

Data centres also rely heavily on water to cool densely packed servers. The Government’s approval comes as during a summer of record-breaking heat, as millions of people are hit with hosepipe bans.

There are more than 20 data centres in Tower Hamlets, according to the tracker Data Center Map. There are already three data centres directly surrounding the Truman Brewery site, which Save Brick Lane and Ahmed both say cause significant disruption to the environment and locals’ wellbeing.

Residents living in and around Brick Lane already experience “acute” issues with their access to running water, Ahmed said: “Water supply is intermittent and frequently stops altogether.”

According to environmental charity Global Action Plan, a mid-sized 15 MW data centre may consume around 300-500 million litres of water each year, “roughly equivalent to the annual domestic water use of 2,000-3,000 UK households”. The Truman Brewery data centre will be 5.2 MW.

“They guzzle water,” Ahmed said of data centres, “and residents are worried about the increased strain this [new one] will put on their already limited resources.”

Pennycook’s letter said the data centre’s plan complies with environment regulations. The Government has said it was working to understand how data centres use water, and exploring ways to minimise the impact.

Been a long, hot summer

Research led by the University of Cambridge, published this year, found that land surface temperatures around data centres rise by an average of 2°C, with some areas recording increases as high as 9°C.

Tower Hamlets is already one of London’s hottest neighbourhoods, according to Friends of the Earth. It has one of the highest population densities in the UK: in 2024, it was 330 times more populated than West Devon. Little relief from tree coverage means temperatures can reach up to 5°C hotter than other parts of London, Friends of the Earth said.

It is a concern for Amber, 28, who works in a Brick Lane coffee shop: “It’s been a long, hot summer. It worries me that rich businesses are going to manufacture more of that, but we have to work in it.”

Moberly, the local campaigner, said the best way to prevent any adverse effects on the local community is to “just not build” the centre. His group is now seeking expert advice on whether Rayner’s decision can be challenged.

Truman Estates and Zeloof LLP did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

44 flats do ‘nothing to solve’ housing crisis

Environmental concerns are not the campaign group’s only objection to the redevelopment.

Of the 44 flats planned, 11 will be classed as affordable housing, of which six would be for social rent.

The borough has one of the largest social housing waitlists in London, at approximately 24,000. The 44 flats do “nothing to solve Tower Hamlets’ housing crisis”, the campaign group said.

But many local restaurateurs and business owners say increased footfall driven by the new development will bring a much-needed economic boost to the area.

“We’ve seen a huge drop in numbers since people started working from home more,” said Kaan, who owns a kebab shop on Brick Lane. “We need more people with disposable income to live in the area.” Tower Hamlets is the third-poorest borough in London, with 40 per cent of residents living in poverty.

Evaluations conducted by Knight Frank for the redevelopers stressed that a new data centre is “not simply for storing cat videos” and will “underpin complex, high-value financial transactions that enable the UK to maintain its leadership in global finance”.