When Data Centres Give Back: Community Roots at Kao Data

After announcing the development of its first data centre outside of London and the South East, Kao Data launched its new Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiative in Stockport. The company revealed it would be building a data centre in Greater Manchester in May 2023, due to be operational by late 2027, with the site clearance at the former industrial site in Stockport beginning in October 2024.

In November 2024, Kao Data also announced that it was launching its new Kao SEED Fund in Stockport. 

The Kao SEED Fund, which stands for Social Enterprise and Environmental Development, was founded to empower community groups and social enterprises by awarding them small pots of funding for new projects or to support existing initiatives.

Here to tell us more about the Kao SEED Fund is Adam Nethersole, VP of Marketing at Kao Data.

Why did you create the Kao SEED Fund and why did you decide to launch it in Stockport, ahead of your other locations? 

We created the Kao SEED Fund because it allowed us to help support some of the fantastic work that is already taking place within the local community. 

As a London-based operator, we didn’t want to parachute into Stockport and provide something that wasn’t relevant – or risk replicating something that was already here. 

So, our approach has always been, with the help of Sector 3, to identify what projects and ideas already existed in the community – and give as many of them as possible a helping hand, while crucially ensuring the projects are owned and delivered by local champions.

The fund also empowers grassroots community groups at a time when access to funding is increasingly challenging – especially smaller, more agile amounts of funding. This initiative is a key part of Kao Data’s wider ESG strategy. 

It’s vitally important to our company values that we are active participants in our communities, being a good corporate neighbour and providing genuine, tangible help to people who live near our facilities.

Sector 3, who are Stockport’s forward-thinking charity infrastructure organisation, were absolutely key to this project being such a success. 

Can you highlight a couple of the funded initiatives and how they helped their local community? 

There were 20 different funded groups – all unique and wonderful in their own ways. It’s incredibly hard to select just a few, but the highlights below demonstrate the diversity of community groups. 

Marbury Road Edible Garden 

The Marbury Road Edible Garden is a volunteer-led initiative, created for residents living in social housing, who often face significant economic hardship and social exclusion. The social horticulture sessions provide a therapeutic space where participants engage in gardening activities to improve their mental and physical wellbeing. 

The funding was used for a trained horticulture leader to run 12 sessions for 12 participants for social therapeutic sessions for those facing physical and mental health challenges and social isolation. 

Plastic Shed 

Plastic Shed is a community organisation that brings people together to tackle plastic waste through creative reuse. It collects plastic lids from local residents and turns them into recycled products, workshops and large-scale public art. 

In March 2024, Plastic Shed completed the UK’s largest 100% recycled plastic mural, involving 40,000 people and collecting over 400,000 lids. The organisation have also just launched a new mural underneath the new Stockport Interchange. 

The Kao SEED Fund supported Plastic Shed in expanding its network of Plastic Donation Stations across Stockport. These stations, hosted in local shops, libraries and cafés, made it easier for residents to donate plastic lids for reuse. 

Forward

Forward was created to support the local LGBTQ+ community, addressing gaps in care and connection, as well as combating social isolation and fostering a supportive, inclusive environment. 

The Kao SEED Fund supported the ‘Be You Prom’ – an event celebrating the fifth anniversary of Forward CIC, held at Stockport’s Edgeley Park football ground in August. This ball provided a safe, inclusive space for the LGBTQ+ community to experience a long-awaited rite of passage, offering a prom-like experience where they can be their true selves. 

This wonderful event aims to build community empowerment through unconditional support and inclusivity, while also celebrating Forward’s achievements and the volunteers who contribute to its success. 

How did you judge success for the Kao SEED Fund? ​​​​​​​

The first Kao SEED Fund has been an overwhelming success and has set a new bar for genuine community engagement within the industry. We received 68 applications and from those, we awarded 20 groups individual grants. 

Throughout this year, we have been out to visit as many projects as we have been able to – and all of them have kept us up to date with images, news as well as end-of-project reports. 

Overall, developing the Kao SEED Fund has ensured that we are truly embedded in the local communities where our data centres are located and on top of that, we’re helping empower local people to support their own communities.

What other initiatives does Kao Data have within its ESG strategy? 

Several. Our Kao Academy has recently been relaunched, which has been a really exciting and rewarding project for our team to work on. 

The new resources include new curriculum-based lesson plans on science and technology for Upper Key Stage 2 (ages 9-11), along with lots of challenges and games to really bring the subject of data centres to life.

The lesson plans teach children about how data centres work, what they do and what jobs will be in demand in the future. This educational initiative is really important as we must equip the next generation with the skills vital to thrive in an AI-driven economy. 

We also want to ensure that all young people, regardless of background, can access high-quality jobs in growing industries such as tech and AI. 

To create this initiative, we worked with Hark, an educational partner which specialises in producing curriculum-based content that really engages young people. 

Beyond the classroom resources, we also launched a competition which asked children to design a Data Centre Superhero. Three winning schools received a £100 (US$133) Amazon voucher for their class, with fantastic STEM toy prizes for the first, second and third individual prizes.

And lastly, what is the next step for the Kao SEED Fund? 

In September 2025 we launched the Kao SEED Fund for Harlow, where we have a data centre campus. This followed the same model as that used in Stockport, and was delivered in partnership with Harlow Council. 

We then announced the funded projects in December and we’re really looking forward to following these community projects over the next 12 months. 

We’re currently making plans to launch the next Stockport SEED Fund in early 2026, working alongside some of our supply chain partners to make it bigger, better and more impactful. 

Here, we’ll be working alongside Sector 3 as our partner again, as they are so embedded within the Stockport not-for-profit and voluntary sector. 

We’re also in early talks to launch SEED Funds for Slough and West London.

Finally, we’re always on the look out for other ways we can support the local communities in which we work.