Blackstone has received the green light from Northumberland County Council to proceed with its $13bn hyperscale data centre project in North East England. As it looks to capitalise on surging demand for data storage and cloud computing infrastructure, according to a report by Reuters.
The proposed 540,000-square-metre data centre campus represents a £10bn ($13bn) investment and is expected to create a substantial economic impact in the region. The development is expected to generate: 1,200 long-term construction jobs; hundreds of permanent operational roles; and up to 2,700 indirect jobs.
In addition, Blackstone has pledged £110m to support local economic growth and job creation initiatives along the Northumberland Line, a newly launched railway corridor.
The project comes at a time of increasing demand for data centre capacity, fuelled by the rapid adoption of cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and advanced digital technologies. A recent report by CBRE Group suggests that Europe is on track for record data centre expansion in 2025, with supply struggling to keep up with demand.
The hyperscale data centre will serve enterprise clients requiring high-performance computing capabilities, strengthening Blackstone’s position in the fast-growing digital infrastructure sector.
The Northumberland site was previously earmarked for Britishvolt, a UK startup focused on battery manufacturing that collapsed in 2023. Blackstone stepped in with its data centre proposal in 2024, marking a strategic pivot towards technology-driven infrastructure.
