Council planners have approved a $13 billion “hyperscale” data center in North East England that was proposed by the American private equity firm Blackstone (BX.N). Following a unanimous vote in favor of the application, the Northumberland County Council announced on Tuesday that the proposals had been given planning permission.
According to Northumberland County Council, the data centre campus will cover around 540,000 square metres and require an expenditure of up to 10 billion pounds.
“Hyperscale” data centers are sizable establishments primarily utilized to offer cloud computing and data storage services to enterprises operating at scale.
According to the council, in addition to hundreds of long-term jobs to run the centers, 1,200 long-term construction jobs will be created over the course of several years of construction, and up to 2,700 indirect jobs may be supported.
Blackstone would allow the council to establish a 110-million-pound fund as part of the agreement to support employment and growth initiatives in the economic corridor along the “Northumberland Line,” a new railway line that opens in December 2024.
Following the failure of UK company Britishvolt last year, earlier plans for the Blyth, Northumberland location were abandoned.
In 2024, Blackstone suggested constructing the data center.
As organizations use new technologies to manage their operations, particularly since the advent of generative artificial intelligence, the demand for data center capacity and the energy required to power them has increased dramatically on a global scale.
According to research published last month by CBRE Group, as businesses increase their use of cloud computing and artificial intelligence, Europe may witness a record number of new data centers this year. However, supply will not be able to keep up with demand.
