Planning pipeline · data as of 18 Oct 2026

Scotland’s Data Centre Map and Tracker

Large data centre proposals in Scotland, from pre-application notices to live planning applications and appeals, plus the sites already operating. Each entry shows its council planning record, where one exists, and its other sources by type, so every claim can be checked against more than one publisher.

How sources are graded: 37 of 47 entries corroborated ↓

Sites

Map: Natural Earth

OperatingUnder constructionApplication lodgedRefused / appealPre-applicationAnnouncedGrid queue onlyStalled

Circle area scales with MW. Hollow rings have no published capacity. Positions are approximate (town or estate level).

Proposed, in progress and stalled

Schemes from first announcement through to a lodged application, plus those under construction, refused or stalled. Most are large AI campuses still at pre-application, and together they would add many times today's operating capacity.

Operating

Data centres running in Scotland today, mostly colocation, bank and research sites in the Central Belt, Aberdeen and Dundee. Most are small; the largest, DataVita DV1 at Chapelhall, is about 24MW.

Planning and policy timeline

How sources are graded

Each entry lists every source we used, labelled by who published it. An entry counts as corroborated when at least two different publishers report it and at least one of them is not a campaign group or a commercial directory.

GovernmentScottish or UK Government, Parliament, the planning appeals division (DPEA), NESO

CouncilLocal authority planning portal records, news or committee papers. Planning records were searched on each council's portal for "data centre" on 18 Oct 2026.

NoticeStatutory planning notices published in local papers

OperatorThe operator's or developer's own website or press release

NewsNewspapers, broadcasters and trade press

CampaignCampaign groups and petitions, including the APRS tracker

DirectoryCommercial data centre listings and property agents

Some news sites block automated link checks, but every link here was found through search and checked on 18 Oct 2026; none returned "not found".

East Ayrshire

Hurlford (Stoic Rufus)

ILI Group

Pre-application5 sources540 MWVery large

Where it stands5 independent sources

Announced
Proposal notice
Application
Decision
Built

Proposal notice 25/0008/PREAPP lodged 25 Nov 2025. A full application can follow 12 weeks after a notice. Decisions on data centres of 50 MW or more are currently paused for up to 12 months while national guidance is drafted.

Have your say · council applicationNo application to comment on yet. At proposal stage, comments go to the developer's public events.Council record 25/0008/PREAPP ↗How to have your say

Size540 MWVery large14% of Scotland's winter peak demand

SurroundingsNot assessed: no council site location to measure from.

Public response1 against · 0 for

On 25/0008/PREAPP

How the flags work

Red: nearest building within 100 m, 10% or more of the site in a flood zone, or a designation overlapping the site. Amber: building within 500 m, any flood-zone overlap, or a designation within 500 m. Green: none of these. Measured from the council's application site; buildings from OpenStreetMap, flood zones from SEPA, designations from NatureScot and Historic Environment Scotland.

Overview

One of ILI's three Stoics sites. ILI says each has a grid connection and land rights.

The developer's case

Part of ILI's three-site 'Stoics' network (Rufus), presented as run on renewable power. ILI Group

Developer website ↗

Jobs in context

Permanent jobs claimedNone published

At the 1.6 per MW study averageabout 864for 540 MW

Industry modeltechUK, based on older, smaller sites8.5

Planned UK sitesVerdant study of 20 schemes, 20261.6

QTS Cambois, Northumberland720 MW, about 400 jobs0.56

Permanent jobs per megawatt of capacity.

Construction jobs are real but temporary. Figures for "job-years", "jobs supported" or "indirect" jobs count work elsewhere in the economy, not people on site. The per-MW measure comes from the think tank Verdant; techUK says it misses jobs supported outside the site, and the UK Government calls it misleading. The Next Web Resultsense

Site and design

Land	Farmland (Purroch Farm)

The opening lines summarise in our own words how the developer presents the scheme. Items marked Claim are the developer's own figures, not independently checked.

The objectors' case

formal objections1

The opening lines summarise in our own words how objectors present their case. Campaign claims get the same checks as the developer's figures. Petition signatures are not verified as local and are not formal objections to the council.

Planning

Where it stands: PAN done · no visible progress.

Proposal of application notice25/0008/PREAPP · Approved with Conditions · 25 Nov 2025
EIA screening or scopingNot found on the council portal
Planning application lodgedNot yet lodged
Council decision

Site location: no site boundary is published on the council's planning map for this application. The position shown is approximate.

Council planning record · East Ayrshire Council

Reference	Type	Status	Date	Applicant
25/0008/PREAPP	Proposal of application notice, Purroch Farm	Approved with Conditions	25 Nov 2025	ILI Rufus Limited

Rules that apply

Over 50MW, the council must notify Scottish Ministers within seven days of validating an application (in force since 17 Aug 2026). Scottish Government
Over 50MW, an Environmental Impact Assessment is now mandatory (Direction of 16 Sep 2026), including for applications already in the system. Scottish Government
On 16 Sep 2026 MSPs backed pausing planning decisions on large data centres for up to 12 months while national guidance is drafted, expected by December 2026. Resultsense
For a major development, the developer must lodge a proposal of application notice and hold at least two public events, and cannot submit the application until 12 weeks after the notice.

Search the East Ayrshire planning portal for the latest documents, consultee responses and public comments.

Public response

1against

0in support

0neutral

100% of comments that took a side were against. From the public comments tab of 25/0008/PREAPP, read 19 Oct 2026. This council publishes the counts but not the comment text, so what people wrote cannot be analysed.

Sources

DeveloperInterview with Mark Wilson, CEO of ILI Group · Entrepreneurial Scotland
NewsTrio of hyperscale data centers dubbed the Stoics could be built in Scotland · DatacenterDynamics
NewsScotland's 24 hyperscale data centre proposals need 6,000MW · Resultsense
CampaignData centre map and table (updated 13 Aug 2026) · APRS

Map: Natural Earth

Position is approximate (town or estate level). Other tracked sites nearby are shown and open their own page. OpenStreetMap · Google Maps

Stage: Pre-application
Capacity: 540 MW
Size band: Very large (250 to 999 MW)
14% of Scotland's winter peak demand
?
Electricity: It would use 3.5–4.7 TWh a year, from typical use to full capacity: as much electricity as 1.04–1.38 million Scottish homes (40–54% of Scotland's homes), or 16–22% of all the electricity Scotland uses. That is 28–37% of what every business, factory and public building in Scotland uses, and about as much electricity as every electric train in Britain. ?
For balance: Scotland generated 51.8 TWh in 2024, more than twice the 21.7 TWh it used, and in 2025 about 8.8 TWh of wind in northern Scotland was switched off because the grid could not carry it. Developers argue data centres could use power that is now wasted. Whether a site would depends on where it connects: most switched-off wind is in the north, most proposals are in the Central Belt, and data centres need power on calm days too. Scottish Government The Energyst (Montel analysis)
Developer: ILI Group
Location: Hurlford, Kilmarnock
Council: East Ayrshire
Latest: PAN done · no visible progress
Coordinates: 55.5980, -4.4550 (approx.)