The Firewalkers · Media & Press

Press information
and media contact.

Background on The Firewalkers, founder biography, key statistics, copy-ready boilerplate, and a direct line to Scott Seivwright for interviews, comment, and media enquiries.

Media contact

Get in touch.

Scott Seivwright is available for interview, comment, and broadcast on data centre planning, AI environmental impact, community resistance, and the intersection of technology and land stewardship.

Response time for media enquiries is typically within 24 hours. For urgent deadlines, use the email address directly and mark your subject line with your deadline.

Email hello@firewalkers.earth
Spokesperson Scott Seivwright — Founder, The Firewalkers
Location Edinburgh, Scotland — available for remote and in-person interviews
YouTube @firewalkersearth
Website firewalkers.earth

Key statistics for editorial use

2,000+ New data centres planned globally DC Byte / JLL 2025
12 wks Typical community consultation window UK planning legislation
50 GW Data centre connection applications in GB queue Ofgem, May 2026
22% Share of Irish national electricity used by data centres CSO Ireland, 2024
Press releases

For immediate use.

Copy and use freely. Attribution to The Firewalkers and a link to firewalkers.earth is appreciated but not required. For the full research paper that underpins each release, visit the Research page.

June 11, 2026 · For immediate release · Embargo: none

New research shows GB data centre queue running at 3–5 times independent need estimates

Analysis of Ofgem and NESO data reveals the GB data centre pipeline is running at 3.4 to 5.1 times what the grid operator's own scenarios require by 2050. Communities are being asked to make permanent sacrifices of land, water, and landscape for infrastructure that may never be built.

Download paper

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — June 11, 2026

New research shows GB data centre pipeline running at 3–5 times the scale independent models say is needed

The Firewalkers today published original research showing that the current pipeline of data centre connection applications in Great Britain — approximately 50 GW according to Ofgem's May 2026 call for input — represents between 3.4 and 5.1 times the 9.9–14.6 GW that the National Energy System Operator's own Future Energy Scenarios identify as the credible long-run requirement to 2050.

The research, Data Centre Demand and Speculative Overcapacity (FW-RP-2026-01), draws on regulatory filings, grid operator scenarios, and independent academic review including the IEA-4E critical analysis of global demand forecasts. It finds that the most widely-cited industry projections span a 40-fold range — and that the upper end of those projections is not supported by credible independent modelling.

"The queue is best described as optionality-seeking rather than fixed demand," said Scott Seivwright, founder of The Firewalkers. "Communities in Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland are being asked to make permanent sacrifices — of moorland, of water, of protected landscape — for infrastructure that a significant portion of credible analysis suggests will not be needed at the scale currently proposed."

The research also notes that NESO's March 2026 analysis found that a majority of responding data centre projects had not secured an end-customer or off-taker when they applied for grid connection — further evidence that a substantial portion of the pipeline is speculative rather than demand-led.

The Firewalkers calls on planning authorities to require applicants to demonstrate genuine committed demand — not developer optionality — before approving data centres on protected, sensitive, or agricultural land.

The full paper is available for free download at firewalkers.earth/research. Scott Seivwright is available for interview and comment.

Media contact: hello@firewalkers.earth · Scott Seivwright · Founder, The Firewalkers · Edinburgh, Scotland · firewalkers.earth
June 11, 2026 · For immediate release · Embargo: none

One data centre in Ireland used enough water for 18,000 people in a single year

New research on data centre water consumption across the UK, Ireland and EU finds that planning systems approve these facilities with no systematic requirement to disclose how much water they use, when, or what happens to local catchments in a drought.

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June 15, 2026 · For immediate release · Embargo: none

The poorest households will pay most for the data centre boom, new research warns

New research on the affordability of data centre expansion finds the cost of the grid and water build lands on household bills — and falls hardest on the poorest and most rural families, who already spend twice the national share of income on water and are least likely to benefit.

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June 16, 2026 · For immediate release · Embargo: none

AI Growth Zones fast-track data centres — and quietly narrow the community's right to be heard

New analysis of the AI Growth Zone framework finds that "national infrastructure" status and planning reform speed approval for the largest data centres while reducing the channels for local objection. The Firewalkers calls for binding safeguards, independent oversight, and sunset clauses on accelerated powers.

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Copy-ready text

Boilerplate and descriptions.

One sentence — for captions and credits

A global movement using AI to protect the natural world from the environmental impact of data centre infrastructure.

One paragraph — for articles and features

The Firewalkers is a global movement founded in Scotland in June 2026 by Scott Seivwright — a technologist with 30 years in AI and digital transformation, and a practising druid. The movement monitors data centre planning applications, equips communities with AI tools to understand and object to them, and connects the people who care. The Firewalkers uses AI to hold AI to account. It is not anti-technology. It is pro-wisdom.

Scott Seivwright — short biography

Scott Seivwright is the founder of The Firewalkers and has spent 30 years leading AI and digital transformation programmes for global organisations. He holds the Oxford AI Programme credential, is a co-founder of GreenPO.org, and is a member of the Green Software Foundation. He is also an Ovate of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, and a member of the Elder and Gorse Druids at Roslin, Scotland. He is based in Edinburgh.

The Firewalkers tagline

The future belongs to the stewards, not the extractors.

Scott Seivwright, founder of The Firewalkers

Scott Seivwright

Founder, The Firewalkers · Edinburgh, Scotland

Scott Seivwright has spent three decades at the intersection of technology and organisational change — leading AI and digital transformation programmes for global organisations including Royal Canin (Mars Inc.), NatWest, RBS, and others across financial services, healthcare, and the public sector.

He is also a practising druid — an Ovate of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD), and a member of the Elder and Gorse Druids at Roslin, Scotland. His spiritual practice is rooted in Celtic land traditions and the conviction that how technology is built is a moral question, not just a technical one.

The Firewalkers was founded because those two things — 30 years building the machine and a lifelong connection to the land it is consuming — could no longer be held in separate pockets.

Oxford AI Programme OBOD Ovate Elder & Gorse Druids, Roslin Green Software Foundation Co-founder, GreenPO.org 30 years AI & digital transformation