QTS applies to speed up £10bn UK data centre delivery
Blackstone subsidiary is working to have four of 10 buildings in Northumberland ready by 2030.
QTS has applied to update parts of the outline planning permission for its £10bn data centre campus in north-east England to speed up capacity delivery, and have four out of the 10 planned new buildings ready by 2030.
Enabling groundworks began in October 2025 on the QTS site in Cambois, a village in south-east Northumberland, which has had several false dawns from previous owners such as failed battery start-up Britishvolt. The campus of up to 10 data centre buildings, nicknamed Project Wind, is a flagship project in one of five AI growth zones aiming to address the UK’s projected shortfall in compute capacity.
“In order to meet market demand, maintain competitiveness and ensure the long-term viability of the scheme, QTS now intends to accelerate the delivery programme, including overlapping construction phases (Data Centres 1 to 4), earlier commencement of works and increased peak labour levels,” said an April 2026 dated planning statement published on Northumberland county council’s website on May 7.
Construction of QTS’s first two data centres is scheduled to begin later in 2026, with operations slated for 2029, one of the application documents reads. Another two data centres are scheduled to be completed by 2030, one year ahead of the original schedule, whereas there is “limited certainty regarding the detailed delivery strategy and phasing programme associated with data centres five to 10”.
QTS’s original outline planning application from November 2024 aimed at 2035 for the full delivery of the project.
“QTS remains committed to delivering our Cambois Data Centre Project in Northumberland,” a company spokesperson told fDi. The company did not comment on any plans to accelerate its Project Wind development.
Enabling works on the site of two shuttered coal power stations so far include the removal of “soil, stone and dredging spoil”, according to a permit from the Environment Agency dated April 1 obtained via a freedom of information request by fDi. This includes the redeposit of contaminated red shale waste from the former Blyth power station to create a building platform for redevelopment.
Telecommunications service provider Zayo Europe also announced on March 23 that it will build four fibre routes connecting the Cambois development to its UK-wide fibre network which includes Newcastle, Manchester, Edinburgh and London.
Community engagement
QTS’s updated application comes a few weeks after OpenAI hit the headlines when it paused its UK data centre plans due to high electricity prices and regulations.
Ian Lavery, the Labour member of parliament for the Blyth and Ashington constituency, where QTS’s site is located, says any issue affecting construction and transport needs to be dealt with promptly. “We want this development from QTS to take place as soon as we possibly can,” he says.
A proposal for another smaller data centre was made in February 2026 by Wansbeck Regeneration just north of QTS’s site in West Sleekburn, according to leaflets distributed to local residents by planning consultancy Lichfields. It is understood that an official proposal to Northumberland county council is expected by the end of May.
Trevor Austin, a Reform councillor for Bedlington East where the site is located, says the council has been told the new data centre proposal is expected to have 620MW of power capacity and that water supply has been secured from the former GlaxoSmithKline site in nearby Morpeth. That is about half the 1.1GW power capacity of QTS’s full project.
“Even though [the QTS site] has a grid supply agreement in place, NCC is still spending time and effort to ensure that there will be no constraints on infrastructure and utilities,” adds Austin.
Alongside ground work on site, QTS has pushed several local community initiatives, including a new garden for Cambois Primary School next to the site and sponsoring local football club Blyth Spartans. More than 40 people have been trained in construction skills through local funding. The company expects to create 1,200 jobs in construction and 400 full-time roles during full-scale operations.
“It is integral that local people come first in the construction phase and operation phase,” says Lavery. “I want people in this area to feel that this investment of £10bn brings benefits to the local economy.”
Original article – fDi Intelligence