Data heating the deep end

SwimNation speaks to Jo Cherrett CEO of Trafford Leisure, which has partnered with a data centre operator to reduce energy costs

s there is no end in sight to high energy prices, facility operators are finding increasingly innovative ways to both cut energy use and to generate power which can be utilised in pool operations. Trafford Leisure is among them, having partnered with Deep Green, a UK data centre operator, as part of plans to move away from carbon-intensive fossil fuel boilers. The initiative has resulted in Trafford Leisure’s move Urmston leisure centre in Greater Manchester becoming the first public leisure centre in the UK to benefit from data centre heat. Named DG01, the centre will capture between 75% and 95% of the heat produced by its servers and equipment to warm move Urmston. The process will cut the leisure centre’s carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 150 tonnes annually and save up to £80,000 a year in energy costs. Deep Green’s High density AI-ready technology works for both the data centre and the pool – the heat from the computers warms the water and the transfer of heat into the pool cools the computers. The project builds on Deep Green’s initial trial at its small data centre in Exmouth Leisure Centre.

SwimNation dives in deeper in an exclusive interview with Trafford Leisure’s pioneering CEO, Jo Cherrett.

Trafford Leisure has a history of being an early adopter of sustainable initiatives. What was the specific tipping point that made you look at data furnaces as the next logical step? Sustainability has been part of Trafford Leisure’s DNA for some considerable time. Our executive team lead a culture of ensuring sustainability is in all our thinking, from supplier costs to day-to-day and long- term initiatives – it’s never just an afterthought.

Swimming pools need heat every hour of every day and are some of the most carbon-intensive buildings to operate. Think about running a bath at home. Now imagine heating one thousand baths to thirty degrees and keeping them warm twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. That’s roughly the amount of energy needed to run a single 25-metre swimming pool. And in Trafford we don’t have one pool, we have eight. Across our sites, our gas bill alone is around £400,000 a year. So the £80,000 saving will be significant for us.

It’s why sustainability makes complete business sense. And, because Trafford Leisure is known in Greater Manchester for leading in this space, it has brought many green opportunities to us. This included an introduction to Deep Green through Richard Lamburn, Swim England’s Director of Facilities, with the promise they had something we would be interested in.

My Head of Asset and IT, Kevin Henderson and I have long thought we could turn our utility cost into a revenue line, we just didn’t know how. But our ability to think differently allows us to continuously innovate. We’ve always positioned Trafford Leisure as an early adopter where it benefits our communities and so Deep Green’s concept of capturing waste heat for social good aligned perfectly with that ethos. On introduction to the Deep Green team we quickly recognised its offer to combat rising costs and carbon impact was both practical and scalable rather than just theoretical.

How did you build the business case to convince your local authority that this relatively new technology was a secure and reliable bet for public infrastructure? Our approach was grounded in four things: evidence, collaboration, risk management and alignment to Trafford Council priorities. From the outset, Trafford Leisure and Trafford Council worked closely together to explore the opportunity, assess the risks and ensure the solution supported shared environmental and financial objectives. We focused on the clear carbon reduction benefits, the projected reduction in long-term energy costs, and the fact that the infrastructure is backed by a credible commercial partner, Octopus Energy Generation. By combining robust due diligence with a collaborative local authority and operator approach, we were able to demonstrate this was an innovative but secure and reliable investment in public infrastructure.

Importantly, this isn’t replacing resilience, it’s enhancing it. We demonstrated how it would complement existing systems while reducing long-term reliance on gas. Trafford Council is open to innovation and was supportive. Ultimately, the Council could see that one sector is paying to create heat, while another is paying to get rid of it. Deep Green resolves that contradiction and asks what if heat isn’t waste? What if it was a resource? What if digital infrastructure could also support local communities?

Were you able to house the data centre technology within the existing footprint of the facility? Yes, but not as initially planned. At first, we considered the data centre sitting within the actual leisure centre footprint. But, as we worked through the feasibility and design, to provide the total heating demand for the entire centre, the size of this modular data centre meant it had to be housed externally, but crucially, still within our own boundary. We sacrificed eight car park spaces to ensure the advantages of this solution would be integrated into the existing facility footprint. That was critical for us in avoiding major structural changes.

Does the Deep Green technology offer any secondary benefits compared to traditional boilers? Beyond carbon and cost savings, there are operational benefits. The system is highly efficient and, because it doesn’t rely on combustion in the same way as gas boilers, it supports a cleaner, more modern plant environment. It’s also part of a broader shift away from fossil-fuel-based infrastructure. Also, compared to other data centres that consume vast, unsustainable quantities of water for cooling, Deep Green’s modular design technology is a ‘closed loop’ system, so it requires only a few cubic meters of water a year.

How does the system ensure a consistent water temperature if the data processing demand drops during off-peak computing hours? DG01 is one of the most efficient data centres in the UK and is helping us to remove volatility from a cost line, particularly in the world we live in today. We want the data centre to be at full capacity, ensuring heat is available at all times. Not just for the pool but for our whole leisure centre. However, initially the system is set-up in a hybrid model, designed to work alongside supplementary heating systems rather than in isolation. The legacy gas system will remain for a short period but will be replaced with an electric system. This means we can balance supply and demand, ensuring a consistent pool temperature even if computing demand fluctuates. Our goal is to transition quickly to a single source solution, just using the Deep Green energy.

This is a long-term partnership and as computing technology improves, should there be a surplus, we could look at raising the temperature of the pool or studios to accommodate the needs of different users and activities at specific times. For example, to better support users with disabilities, install a hot yoga studio or even supply heat to our neighbouring school.

Will other local businesses access the heat, and is there a cost benefit for Trafford Leisure to this? This is where the model becomes really interesting. The key is looking at where the most energy demanding public buildings are; ones that need a consistent demand for heat, like a hospital, social housing and other leisure centres, so we can optimise Deep Green’s model. The potential to share heat locally creates opportunities beyond our one site, contributing to a more connected and sustainable local energy ecosystem. It’s early days, but the opportunity for local authorities to think differently is truly exciting and aligns strongly with our role as a community anchor organisation.

What is the first piece of advice you would give to other leisure operators when exploring non- traditional energy partnerships like this? Start with partnerships. The technology is important, but it’s the collaboration between leisure providers, local authorities and innovators that makes it viable. Be open to new models and focus on long-term impact rather than short-term familiarity.

The technology is important, but it’s the collaboration between leisure providers, local authorities & innovators that makes it viable

How have your customers reacted to the news? Members have been really positive. There’s a genuine interest in how the technology works. Our customers appreciate that an everyday activity, like swimming, is being provided in a more sustainable way. It also allows us to have an open dialogue with our customers about all our sustainable goals and inspires them to think differently too.

Beyond the environmental, how does your partnership with Deep Green help you meet your social targets? We’ve wanted to address a deep-rooted challenge for a long time and because Deep Green has taken the time to get to know us and understand how they could truly help beyond the data centre heating system, they created the Swimming Hours programme.

This fully-funded initiative will support twelve women to learn to swim over the next twelve months. They’ve all been identified and supported through our partnership with Women’s Empowerment through Arts (WETA’s) Active Communities Initiative, a local organisation working with communities who experience cultural, social and financial barriers to participation.

Whilst twelve places might not sound significant at first glance, it’s what those places can become that excites me. Learning to swim builds confidence, which can become volunteering. Volunteering can become qualifications. Qualifications can become employment. Employment can become representation. And representation can inspire the next generation.

As Deep Green so rightly put it to us: ‘We don’t do these initiatives because we have to. We do them because they’re right.’ It means when companies choose to house their data in our data centre, they are creating something for social good.

How excited are you for the leisure industry that the technology is being recognised and invested in by a big company like Octopus Energy. What do you think this means to the sector? It’s a strong signal that this type of innovation is moving into the mainstream. For the leisure sector and for local authorities, it shows we can be at the forefront of the energy transition, not just reacting to it. That’s hugely encouraging.

DG01 is not simply a story about a data centre or a swimming pool. It’s about what happens when invention is rooted in place, purpose and people

Based on your experience, do you see this as a ‘one-off’ for move Urmston or a blueprint you intend to roll out across the Trafford Leisure portfolio? It’s absolutely being viewed as a potential blueprint but I think the learning and scaling really needs to be considered wider than a leisure centre. The data centre capabilities for AI are not going anywhere, and our journey with AI is really only just starting. Imagine what’s going to be needed in the future, and unless we want to continue to damage the planet we live on it’s an absolute no brainer for me. I don’t think any data centre should be built unless it can bring benefit to carbon reduction or cost for a local authority or private provider. While each site, neighbourhood, town or city has its own context, the principle of integrating innovative, lower-carbon energy solutions is one we’re keen to explore across our portfolio and Trafford.

Is this part of any wider environmental measures you’re putting in at Trafford Leisure sites? Yes, this sits within a broader programme of work across Trafford Leisure focused on reducing carbon, improving efficiency and embedding sustainability into how we operate. From facility investment with Trafford Council, to behavioural change, it’s about taking a whole-system approach. Did you know we don’t get our chlorine from Russia, China or the United States? We source local salt (the same as you pop on your chips) from down the road in Cheshire and, through an electrolysis machine built in Lancashire, convert the salt on site into chlorine for our pools.

More than 10 years ago, we were one of the first leisure operators to convert our sports hall lighting to LED, which kick-started a continuous journey toward sustainability that included installing our first pool micro-filtration unit in 2019, a technology we now operate across six of our sites. We have expanded our environmental focus by measuring the carbon footprint of our entire business, prioritising Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) through our first baseline survey last year and in 2026 when we supported the reopened new-look move Altrincham with Trafford Council, the gas heating system was replaced with Air Source Heat Pumps and Solar Panels, which are significantly more sustainable.

Ultimately, DG01 is not simply a story about a data centre or a swimming pool. It’s about what happens when invention is rooted in place, purpose and people. And as we like to say here in Manchester, we do things differently.