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".

North Ayrshire

i3 Industrial Park, Irvine

AI PathfinderAI Pathfinder (Salamanca Group)

Stalled5 sources1,000 MWGigawatt

Where it stands5 independent sources

Announced
Stalled
Application
Decision
Built

Reported as stalled. There is no live planning application.

Have your say · council applicationNo open comment period.How to have your say

Size1,000 MWGigawatt25% of Scotland's winter peak demand

SurroundingsNot assessed: no council site location to measure from.

Public responseNo public comments published yet.

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

Announced as a £15bn, 1GW campus scaling to 1.5GW, due to open in 2026. No planning application or PAN has been lodged.

Sources disagree: Reports that it has stalled rest on a July 2026 Bloomberg investigation, seen here only through APRS's summary.

The developer's case

We have not found a project website or public statement from the developer beyond what is listed below.

Jobs in context

Permanent jobs claimedNone published

At the 1.6 per MW study averageabout 1,600for 1,000 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

Claimed benefits

Investment	Developer estimate £15bn STV News Irvine Times
Local spend	Not stated
Economic value (GVA)	Not stated
Community benefit	Not stated
Skills and training	Not stated

Developer estimate The developer's own figure for what it plans to spend. Not a commitment.
Modelled estimate Comes from an economic model the developer paid for. Not checked independently.
Promise only Not yet written into a legal agreement (Section 75) or a planning condition, so it cannot be enforced.
Secured Written into a signed legal agreement or planning condition.

None of these benefits is secured yet for any scheme we track. GVA (gross value added) is the economic output a scheme is modelled to add.

Site and design

Land	i3 enterprise area STV News

Items marked Claim are the developer's own figures, not independently checked.

The objectors' case

No organised objection or formal objections found yet. Know of a campaign group? Use Report incorrect data at the top of the page.

Planning

This scheme is reported as stalled. No planning application has been lodged.

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

Council North Ayrshire Council: no data centre application at Irvine on the planning portal. Searched 18 Oct 2026.

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

Sources

NewsAI industrial park in North Ayrshire to bring £15bn investment · STV News
NewsAI hub reveals £15billion investment plans for Ayrshire · Irvine Times
NewsAI Pathfinder plans to spend £18.4bn on two UK data centers · DatacenterDynamics
NewsScotland's 24 hyperscale data centre proposals need 6,000MW · Resultsense
CampaignBloomberg covers troubles of $20 billion North Ayrshire data centre · 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: Stalled
Capacity: 1,000 MW
Size band: Gigawatt (1,000 MW and above)
25% of Scotland's winter peak demand
?
Electricity: It would use 6.6–8.8 TWh a year, from typical use to full capacity: as much electricity as 1.92–2.56 million Scottish homes (75–100% of Scotland's homes), or 30–40% of all the electricity Scotland uses. That is 51–68% of what every business, factory and public building in Scotland uses, and 1.6–2.1 times the electricity used by 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: AI Pathfinder (Salamanca Group)
Location: Irvine
Council: North Ayrshire
Latest: Never entered planning
Coordinates: 55.6120, -4.6700 (approx.)