UK data-centre tracker

Hayes, London

Hillingdon's register records approval of hybrid application 78343/APP/2025/719: Phase 1 full permission and Phases 2 to 4 outline permission. The parent register gives 29 October 2025 as the decision date; Colt calls the October 2025 milestone a committee resolution to grant, while later council condition applications refer to permission dated 20 May 2026. The issued decision notice is needed to reconcile these dates. Construction commencement for London 6, 7 and 8 was not confirmed in the sources checked on 8 October 2026. Colt's 4 November 2025 release states 97 MW additional IT capacity and early-2029 first operation; its current undated project page states 98 MW and first-phase delivery in 2028. These conflicting operator figures and targets are retained as separate claims, not resolved estimates. The planning report's 250 MW is stated electrical demand, not IT load.

GreenScale

Derry, Northern Ireland

Reserved matters approval (LA11/2023/1729/RM) granted by Derry City and Strabane District Council on 9 October 2024 for one IT service and data centre building with substation compounds, generators, switchgear and transformers on land east and west of Maydown Road, Derry. The statutory planning register states no capacity. The operator, GreenScale, states that the campus has secured grid connections totalling 100 MW, which is recorded here as grid-connection capacity rather than IT load.

Colt Data Centre Services

Hayes, London

The London Borough of Hillingdon approved application 38421/APP/2021/4045 on 26 April 2022 for redevelopment of the Tudor Works site at Beaconsfield Road, Hayes, by Colt Data Centre Services, to deliver a data centre campus of two buildings (Use Class B8) with associated energy and electricity infrastructure, plant, a security gatehouse, highway works, parking, landscaping and ancillary office use. Colt broke ground on the first building, London 4, in February 2023 and describes it as under construction with 31 MW of IT power; that operator figure is recorded here as IT load. The council register itself states no electrical capacity.

DataVita

Chapelhall, Scotland

A new data centre building (DV3) at DataVita's existing Chapelhall campus in North Lanarkshire, within the Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone. Financed as part of a £300 million debt facility announced in August 2026 alongside an expansion of the adjacent, already-operating DV1 building. DatacenterDynamics reported in September 2026 that DV3 was under construction, with capacity in both buildings contracted to CoreWeave under a 15-year lease.

Iver, South East

Outline permission to demolish Court Lane Industrial Estate and build a data centre of up to 65,000 sqm (GEA). Buckinghamshire Council refused it in October 2023 on green belt, landscape and visual harm, the setting of the Grade II listed Iver Court Farmhouse and air quality. The Secretary of State allowed the recovered appeal in December 2024.

Pure DC

London, London

Demolition of an existing building at Unit F, 6 Premier Park Road, Park Royal, and redevelopment to provide a 25,281 sq m (GEA) data centre. Considered and resolved at the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation planning committee on 26 February 2026. No power capacity figure appears in the committee papers.

Microsoft

Leeds, Yorkshire and the Humber

A hybrid scheme for data centre buildings on the former Skelton Grange power station site at Stourton, Leeds, brought forward by Harworth Group with Microsoft. Leeds City Council's planning committee resolved to grant permission in April 2026, but no decision notice has been issued, so the scheme is not yet consented.

Kao Data

Stockport, North West

Demolition of an existing industrial and warehouse building and erection of a 25,900 sq m data centre at Kenwood Point, Stockport, with associated parking, servicing and access. Approved by Stockport Council's Heatons and Reddish Area Committee. Applicant recorded as KD 5 Limited. Kao Data describes the scheme as a 40 MW data centre without stating whether that is IT load or grid capacity, so the figure is shown but excluded from totals. Programme update checked 8 October 2026: Kao Data's dated statement of 1 July 2026 says demolition is complete and the site has been prepared; substation and power-cabling works were ongoing. Main data-centre buildings are expected to be constructed in 2027, with power anticipated in late 2027 and operation in 2028. These are operator targets, not confirmed completion dates. The older location page still gives Q3 2027; the later, dated programme clarification is used here. Main-building construction commencement is not confirmed.

Microsoft

Newport, Wales

Microsoft's datacentre on the former Quinn Radiators factory site at Celtic Way, Imperial Park, Newport (application 24/0006). Newport City Council's planning committee unanimously approved demolition of the remaining buildings and two data centre buildings with diesel backup generators on 3 July 2024; Microsoft agreed a £104,000 walking and cycling contribution. Senedd Research (July 2026) puts the planned site at around 200 MW IT load; the planning papers give no MW figure. The site is separate from the Vantage (former NGD) campus at Imperial Park.

Equinix

South Mimms, East of England

Outline permission only. The council cites 87,000 sq m of floorspace; no IT-load or grid-connection figure has been verified. DC01UK announced the sale of the 85-acre site to Equinix on 30 October 2025, and the transaction was confirmed by Equinix's adviser, BNP Paribas Real Estate.

Vantage Data Centers

Bridgend, Wales

Bridgend County Borough Council's planning committee unanimously approved Vantage Data Centers' hybrid application (P/25/247/HYB) in October 2025, subject to 32 conditions. The consent gives full planning permission for the first data centre on the north-eastern part of the former Ford engine plant at Waterton, and outline permission for up to nine further data centres to be built over about 15 years. No power capacity figure is stated.

QTS (Blackstone)

Cambois, North East

Outline planning permission, with all matters reserved, granted by Northumberland County Council on 8 May 2025 for up to ten Class B8 data centre buildings totalling up to 540,000 sqm gross internal area, plus a substation, emergency generators and ancillary structures. The council committee report states approximately 72 MW of IT capacity per building, about 720 MW across the full campus; this is recorded as IT load. Initial earthworks began in October 2025 and reserved matters for phase 1 were approved in December 2025, so the project is recorded as under construction.

Amazon Web Services

Iver, South East

Buckinghamshire Council approved Amazon Data Services UK's plans on 28 September 2026 to replace 17 industrial and warehouse units at the Ridgeway Distribution Centre, Iver, with a single two-storey data centre (about 30,525 sqm, main building about 20m high), a substation compound and a yard for 27 backup generators on a 7.3ha site. No MW figure has been published. The site is outside the green belt but in the Colne Valley Regional Park setting and an air quality management area. The Environment Agency generator permit is still to be decided.

Deep Green Technologies

Bradford, Yorkshire and the Humber

Consent reported May 2026, with heat reuse into the Bradford Energy Centre. A 5.6 MW figure is reported without a stated definition.

Kao Data

Harlow, East of England

Two further data centre buildings, KLON-07 and KLON-08, proposed on Plot F of the Kao Data Harlow campus, together with a substation and ancillary offices. The site sits within Harlow's London Road (North) Local Development Order, so the scheme is progressed through a confirmation-of-compliance application rather than a conventional planning application. Applicant recorded as KD 6 Limited.

Eccles, North West

Salford City Council approved with conditions, on 23 July 2025, the demolition of existing structures, land remediation and redevelopment of the former White's Reclamation Site on Liverpool Road, Eccles, for an employment scheme comprising a data centre (Class B8) and ancillary office (Class E), together with substations, plant, parking, servicing, landscaping and access works. The application was determined at Planning Panel following committee consideration on 6 February 2025. The register states no electrical capacity, so none is recorded.

Slough, South East

Recovered appeal (ref 3366043) allowed on 10 June 2026 by the Minister of State for Housing and Planning on behalf of the Secretary of State, granting planning permission subject to conditions. The appellant is Manor Farm Propco Limited, a subsidiary of Tritax Big Box REIT; the end operator is not identified. The decision letter and Inspector's Report record 72 MW of proposed data-centre IT capacity, together with a co-located 100 MW battery energy storage system.

Equinix

Slough, South East

Outline planning application P/00072/152 by Equinix for up to 90,614 sqm (GEA) of data centre development, with ancillary offices and a substation, on the former AkzoNobel decorative paints site off Wexham Road, Slough. On 26 November 2025 Slough Borough Council's planning committee voted to delegate approval to the Planning Manager, subject to a financial contribution of at least £200,000 (capped at £500,000) towards a Slough district heating network. Layout, scale, appearance and landscaping are reserved for later approval. Issue of the decision notice has not been confirmed. No power capacity figure is published.

DataVita

Chapelhall, Scotland

A fourth DataVita data centre building proposed for the Chapelhall campus in North Lanarkshire, within the Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone, alongside the operating DV1 and the under-construction DV3. Planning permission in principle was submitted to North Lanarkshire Council in early September 2026, with a stated construction investment of £849.6 million over two years. The maximum building height was reduced from 30 to 26 metres following community consultation feedback.

Cardiff, Wales

Cardiff Council granted full planning permission on 15 April 2025 for the partial removal of fill material, reprofiling groundworks and the installation of an energy park comprising a battery energy storage facility, associated substation and ancillary buildings, together with a data centre, on land at Rover Way, Splott. The Planning Committee resolved to grant on 17 October 2024 subject to a Section 106 agreement, and the decision was issued once that agreement was completed. The register does not state an electrical capacity for the data centre, so none is recorded. Latos Data Centres, which is delivering the data-centre element, stated in December 2024 that the Cardiff data centre was under construction. The associated energy park includes 1,000 MW of battery storage, which is not data-centre load.

Earley, South East

Property investor Mapeley has applied to Wokingham Borough Council for outline permission to replace three office buildings on the Microsoft campus at Thames Valley Park, Earley, with a data centre of 72MW IT load and about 37,000 sqm. Peak demand would be about 110MW, but only 1.8MW of grid supply is available now, so the first phase would run on gas-fed fuel cells until a larger grid connection arrives, expected around 2037. Demolition is planned for 2027 and the first data halls for 2030, with a decision expected by March 2027. The scheme is put at more than £200m. Microsoft is not involved in the proposal and its lease is reported to end in December 2027. A petition against the scheme has several thousand signatures. No operator or tenant is named.

Abbots Langley, East of England

Outline plans for a data centre of up to 84,000 sqm in two buildings up to 20m high, with a country park. Three Rivers District Council refused it in January 2024 as inappropriate green belt development with very substantial landscape harm. The Secretary of State recovered the appeal after a public inquiry and granted outline permission in May 2025.

Iver, South East

Outline plans for a data centre of up to 72,000 sqm in two buildings on a former landfill site south of Slough Road, Iver. An earlier, larger scheme was refused in 2022 and the appeal dismissed in October 2023. The second application was refused by Buckinghamshire Council in June 2024 on green belt, landscape, air quality and habitat grounds, then allowed on appeal by the Secretary of State in July 2025 as grey belt. Campaigners Foxglove and Global Action Plan challenged the decision; in January 2026 the government admitted a "serious logical error" over the lack of an environmental impact assessment and accepted the permission should be quashed. The project is on hold pending the court outcome.

Bedford, East of England

On 15 June 2026 the Secretary of State issued a direction under section 35 of the Planning Act 2008 requiring this proposed data centre campus at Ampthill Road, Bedford, in Central Bedfordshire, to be consented through a Development Consent Order. This is a designation at the pre-application stage: no application has been examined or decided, and no power capacity figure is published in the direction or decision letter.

Edinburgh, Scotland

Planning permission in principle (25/04239/PPP) sought by Shelborn Drummond Ltd was refused by the City of Edinburgh Council's planning sub-committee in February 2026, against officer recommendation, and is now under appeal (DPEA ref PPA-230-2794). Capacity has been reported variously as 210 MW, 212 MW, 212.42 MW and 213 MW; the measure is not stated, so the figure is excluded from every capacity total.

Xlinks

Great Torrington, South West

Xlinks proposes a campus of up to 1.5GW of AI data centre capacity plus a 1.8GW battery storage facility on about 344ha of farmland near Great Torrington in the North Devon UNESCO biosphere reserve, with an estimated £12.2–13.8bn investment. Two applications to Torridge District Council are expected; none has been submitted. Public consultation has been postponed amid strong local opposition. Xlinks says some reported details, such as a drought water-use figure, reflect an outdated design.

Hamilton, Scotland

A data centre campus with ancillary offices, back-up generators, fuel storage, a battery energy storage system and an electricity substation is proposed at Haspielaw Farm, Hamilton. South Lanarkshire Council issued an environmental screening opinion on 25 June 2025 confirming an environmental impact assessment is required. This is a pre-application procedural step: no planning application for the campus has been determined.

Hemel Hempstead, East of England

Reality Score: Not yet scored

Outline planning permission was reported in August 2025 for the redevelopment of 45 Maylands Avenue, Hemel Hempstead, for Northtree Investment Management: the existing two-storey warehouse and office building (currently self-storage) would be replaced by a new three-storey data centre of up to about 5,100 sq m, with ancillary offices, plant and a substation. Designed by Scott Brownrigg.

Amazon Web Services

Hemel Hempstead, East of England

Reality Score: Not yet scored

A purpose-built data centre for tape-based long-term storage proposed by Amazon Data Services UK Limited at Plot 3, Maylands Avenue, Hemel Hempstead. Submitted documents describe roof-level plant, an HVO-fuelled standby generator compound, chilled-water cooling and rooftop solar. No decision has been published.

Santander UK Plc

Narborough, East Midlands

Reality Score: Not yet scored

Carlton Park Data Centre 1 & 2 at Narborough, Leicestershire is operated by Santander UK Plc and holds an Environment Agency environmental permit (EPR/QP3533ED) for its standby diesel and Diesel Rotary Uninterruptible Power Supply units. The permit regulates backup power generation plant only and states no figure for the data centres' IT load or grid connection, so no capacity is recorded.

Stellium Datacenters

Wallsend, North East

Reality Score: Not yet scored

Plant replacement application recorded on a third-party aggregator.

Culham, South East

Reality Score: Not yet scored

The UK's first AI Growth Zone, based at Culham in Oxfordshire, announced by the Prime Minister in January 2025 as part of the AI Opportunities Action Plan. Government describes AI Growth Zones as hubs for AI-enabled data centres with improved access to power and planning support.

Annan, Scotland

Reality Score: Not yet scored

CX Tech has applied to Dumfries and Galloway Council for planning permission in principle for a campus of eight data centres on about 57ha of land north of the former Chapelcross nuclear power station, near Annan. It is reported at 1GW and £16.5bn, with up to 162,000 sqm of data-centre floorspace in buildings up to 40m high, built in phases from 2027 to 2035. The Scottish Government has paused decisions on large data centres until the end of 2026, and local campaigners and APRS oppose the scheme. No operator or tenant is named.

Digital Realty

Crawley, South East

Reality Score: Not yet scored

Operational campus at Manor Royal. Verified through the Environment Agency permit for standby generation; the underlying planning consent was not retrieved.

Digital Realty (UK) Limited

Woking, South East

Reality Score: Not yet scored

Digital Realty (UK) Limited operates a data centre at Kestrel Way on the Goldsworth Park Trading Estate in Woking under Environment Agency permit EPR/TP3530DV, issued on 27 February 2018. The permit decision document records 65 diesel-fuelled standby generators with an aggregated combustion capacity of 214 MW thermal. That is a heat input figure for backup plant and is not the site's IT load or grid connection, so no electrical capacity is recorded for this site.

Elsham, Yorkshire and the Humber

Reality Score: Not yet scored

Outline application (PA/2025/643) by Elsham Tech Park Ltd, whose parent is Greystoke Land, for an AI data centre campus of up to 1 GW of IT load on about 176 ha of land adjacent to Elsham Wolds Industrial Estate, near Scunthorpe. North Lincolnshire Council's planning committee resolved to grant permission on 11 March 2026, subject to National Highways' holding objection being resolved and a s106 agreement. A decision notice has not been confirmed. The scheme has up to 905,000 sq m of data centre floorspace across up to 15 data centre plots, battery storage, a 49.9 MW on-site energy centre and heat reuse for greenhouses. The application papers put the build cost at £5.5bn to £7.5bn; the council cites up to £10bn of private investment. The officer report gives over 600 permanent jobs; the developer has cited 900 to 1,200. Construction is expected from 2027, with the first phase open in 2029. No operator is named.

Equinix

London, London

Reality Score: Not yet scored

Operational Equinix colocation facility in London Docklands (E14 9GE). The Environment Agency permit covers 64 MWth of standby generator thermal input, which is a heat input figure and not an IT-load capacity, so no capacity figure is recorded.

Global Switch

London, London

Reality Score: Not yet scored

Long-established operational facility. Verified through the Environment Agency permit; original borough consents not traced.

Google

North Weald, East of England

Reality Score: Not yet scored

Outline application (EPF/0849/25) by Global Infrastructure UK Ltd for a Google data centre campus on 52 acres (21 ha) of North Weald Airfield, Essex: up to two data centre buildings and offices, with up to 77,148 sq m of floorspace (GEA). Epping Forest District Council's Planning Committee A voted to approve it with conditions on 10 December 2025. The officer recommendation was subject to a s106 agreement, and a decision notice has not been confirmed. Google bought the site for £88.2m in January 2024. The officer report estimated 100 to 200 direct jobs and up to 780 local jobs in total. No capacity figure has been published.

Google

Waltham Cross, East of England

Reality Score: Not yet scored

Google's first UK data centre, on a 33-acre site at Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, which Google bought in October 2020. Construction of the $1bn (about £790m) facility was announced on 18 January 2024. It was opened by the Chancellor on 16 September 2025 as part of Google's two-year £5bn UK investment, to support Google Cloud, Workspace, Search and Maps, including AI services. Google gives no capacity figure. The site is Maxwells Farm West (Theobalds Business Park), Cheshunt, in the Borough of Broxbourne; the planning applicant for the data centre was Global Infrastructure UK Ltd.

Vantage Data Centers (formerly Next Generation Data)

Newport, Wales

Reality Score: Not yet scored

An operating colocation campus at Imperial Park, Coedkernew, near Newport, built as Next Generation Data and acquired by Vantage Data Centers in July 2020, since marketed by Vantage under its Cardiff campus branding. It is a separate site from the Vantage Bridgend scheme and from the Rover Way project in Cardiff.

DataVita, in partnership with CoreWeave

Airdrie, Scotland

Reality Score: Not yet scored

Scotland's AI Growth Zone, delivered by data centre company DataVita around its Airdrie site in partnership with AI cloud firm CoreWeave. Government states £8.2 billion of private investment is committed, supporting more than 3,400 jobs and including a renewables park alongside the data centres.

Slough, South East

Reality Score: Not yet scored

Manor Farm Propco Limited, owned by Tritax Big Box, has submitted plans to Slough Borough Council for three data centres on a 23.5ha (58-acre) green belt site west of Poyle Trading Estate near Wraysbury Reservoir, next to the Manor Farm data centre approved on appeal in June 2026. The developer says it is operationally independent of the approved scheme. BBC reports the project at 199MW and says a separate application covers a cable route to Laleham substation.

Blackstone (via QTS) at Blyth; Stargate UK (OpenAI, Nvidia, Nscale) at Cobalt Park

Wallsend & Blyth, North East

Reality Score: Not yet scored

UK's second AI Growth Zone, announced in September 2025 alongside the UK-US Tech Prosperity Deal, anchored at Cobalt Park (North Tyneside) and Blyth (Northumberland). Stargate UK -- a joint venture between OpenAI, Nvidia and British firm Nscale -- will deploy sovereign AI compute at Cobalt Park, starting with 8,000 GPUs scaling to 31,000. Blackstone has committed GBP 10bn to the Blyth site via its QTS subsidiary, with the AI Growth Zone designation creating headroom for a further GBP 20bn from other partners. In April 2026 OpenAI paused Stargate UK, citing energy costs and regulation; it says it will proceed when conditions allow.

Wales

Reality Score: Not yet scored

AI Growth Zone confirmed for North Wales, which government says is uniquely positioned to draw on the potential of the UK's first small modular reactor at Wylfa. The announcement is linked to 3,450 jobs for the region.

Nscale

Loughton, East of England

Reality Score: Not yet scored

Nscale's Loughton, Essex site was named in the government's 2025 AI strategy as the UK's largest sovereign AI supercomputer, linked to Microsoft's UK investment, and was due to open in 2027. Planning permission is in place, but the Guardian reported on 24 September 2026 that UK Power Networks has told Nscale it cannot supply the requested 90MW until the early-to-mid 2030s. Nscale is looking at on-site generation.

Stena Line (via Anglesey Land Holdings)

Holyhead, Wales

Reality Score: Not yet scored

A data centre-led redevelopment of the former Anglesey Aluminium site at Holyhead, led by Stena Line through Anglesey Land Holdings. Outline planning permission was granted by the Isle of Anglesey County Council in September 2025. Named by government as one of two constituent sites (with Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd) of the North Wales AI Growth Zone announced in November 2025.

Vantage Data Centers and Microsoft

Bridgend, Wales

Reality Score: Not yet scored

AI Growth Zone announced for South Wales, delivered with Vantage Data Centers and Microsoft. Government states £10 billion of investment will unlock at least 5,000 jobs, including at the former Ford Bridgend Engine Plant.

Little Bollington, North West

Reality Score: Not yet scored

Renewable energy firm Innova proposes a data centre campus on about 60ha (148 acres) of Tatton Estate farmland near Little Bollington, Cheshire, beside the M56. The plans include data halls, offices, a training facility, a district heat network and a solar farm. The site is in the green belt. The scheme is at public consultation only: no planning application has been made, and one is expected to go to Cheshire East Council in late 2026 or early 2027. No power capacity has been published, and no operator or tenant is named.

Datum Datacentres (formerly TeleData UK)

Manchester, North West

Reality Score: Not yet scored

Manchester City Council approved, under delegated powers in October 2023, the demolition of Simon House next to Teledata's Delta House in Wythenshawe and its replacement with a data centre of about 45,000 sq ft. After Datum Datacentres acquired Teledata, the building was completed as Datum MCR2 and officially opened on 26 June 2025, adjacent to the existing MCR1 facility.

Enfield DC Service Company Limited

Enfield, London

Reality Score: Not yet scored

The VIRTUS LONDON1 data centre at Trade City, Crown Road, Enfield holds Environment Agency permit EPR/PP3225SX, issued on 13 September 2023 to Enfield DC Service Company Limited and covering combustion plant on the site. The permit states no electrical capacity; the 4.3 MW IT load recorded here comes from the operator's published LONDON1 specification sheet.

VIRTUS Data Centres

Uxbridge, London

Reality Score: Not yet scored

Campus counted as one project. London 5 and 6 are permitted and operational; the permit was refused in part for London 7 and 8. That refusal is of the environmental permit, not necessarily of planning consent.