Blackstone's plans for northern England 'hyperscale' data centre get green light

By Lucy Raitano

LONDON (Reuters) - A $13 cardinal "hyperscale" information centre successful North East England projected by U.S. backstage equity radical Blackstone has been fixed the greenish airy to spell up by assembly planners.

Northumberland County Council said connected Tuesday that the proposals person been granted readying support aft a unanimous ballot successful favour of the application.

Northumberland County Council said the information centre field volition correspond an concern of up to 10 cardinal pounds and span immoderate 540,000 quadrate metres.

"Hyperscale" information centres are ample facilities that are chiefly utilized to supply information retention and unreality computing services to businesses astatine scale.

The assembly said on with hundreds of semipermanent jobs to run the centres, it volition supply 1,200 semipermanent operation jobs implicit respective years of operation and besides could enactment up to 2,700 indirect jobs.

As portion of the deal, Blackstone volition alteration the assembly to acceptable up a 110 cardinal lb money to thrust maturation and jobs schemes successful the economical corridor on the "Northumberland Line", a caller railway enactment which opened successful December 2024.

Previous plans for the tract successful Blyth, Northumberland fell done erstwhile UK startup Britishvolt collapsed past year.

Blackstone projected gathering the information centre successful 2024.

Global request for information centre capableness has risen sharply, on with the vigor needed to powerfulness them, arsenic companies pat into caller technologies to tally their businesses, particularly aft the emergence of generative artificial intelligence.

Research released past period by CBRE Group recovered Europe could spot a grounds level of caller information centres this twelvemonth arsenic companies grow their artificial quality and unreality computing activities, but proviso volition conflict to conscionable this demand.

(Reporting by Lucy Raitano; Editing by Jane Merriman)