10-10-2024

Silicon Sands shortlisted for major awards

A future Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone project has been nominated for a major property award.

Silicon Sands has been nominated in the Future Ambition category at the at the upcoming Lancashire Property Awards, held by North West Business Insider.

The Future Ambition Award recognises the scheme or development which has the potential to have a catalytic effect on the local area and its economy.

Based at Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone off Squires Gate Lane, Silicon Sands will be a digital-led campus for high performance companies. 

Anchored around a series of green data centres powered by renewable energy, the site will allow businesses requiring high performance compute to scale with direct access to a colocation data site. 

Silicon Sands sits alongside the landing point for the CeltixConnect-2 subsea fibre-optic internet cable, transporting up to one third of the world’s internet traffic between Blackpool and New York in less than 64 milliseconds. 

Access to this onsite cable and green data centres offers significant benefits for business which require high performance computing in the future, such as Artificial Intelligence, advanced manufacturing, energy consultancies, gaming and esports or telehealth. 

Silicon Sands will also offer access to ample power supplies and a district heat network, as well as supporting Blackpool Council’s wider Digital Vision for the town.

Construction of a data centre demonstrator to show proof of concept for liquid immersion cooling could start in 2025, with a development masterplan, including potential land opportunities to follow in coming years.