Data centres and airport expansion to spur growth

Aaron Morby 2 hours ago
Share

Plans to invest £1.1bn in London Stansted airport and build yet more data centres that turbo charge planned total digital infrastructure spend to £25bn were hailed at the Government’s International Investment Summit today.

Stansted terminal expansion designed by Pascall+Watson and Mott MacDonald
Stansted terminal expansion designed by Pascall+Watson and Mott MacDonald

The latest schemes, including a host clean energy projects corralled together in an earlier Government statement, were hailed by Prime Minister Kier Starmer as drivers of the Government’s industrial growth strategy.

The Manchester Airports Group, which owns Standsted, aired for the first time details of its planned £600m extension to the airport’s existing terminal, alongside another £500m earmarked to improve the existing terminal and wider airport estate.

The terminal building will be extended by 54m towards the airfield side along its 306m existing length.

Its north extension will be built on land currently occupied by the Track Transit System, which will be replaced with new sky walkways to the three satellite terminals at the airport.

It will also deliver Stansted’s 14.3 megawatt on-site solar farm, which will support the airport’s current and increasing electricity demands.

MAG said it was in the final stages of the procurement process, with construction expected to begin in 2025.

The project will take between 2 and 3 years to complete.

Planning permission for the extension was secured last October, and Stansted today released images and a video to showcase its plans for the first time.

From the tech sector, US firms CyrusOne, Cloud HQ, CoreWeave and ServiceNow, said the UK will be the home for their data infrastructure worth a total of £6.3bn.

Taken together with previously announced investment from Amazon Web Services (£8bn) and investment giant Blackstone (£10bn) spending on hyperscale data centres could reach £25bn over the next five years.

CyrusOne, US-headquartered data centre developer plans to expand its investment into the UK to £2.5bn, creating over 1,000 jobs both directly and within its immediate design and construction value chain.

Washington DC-headquartered firm CloudHQ confirmed it will develop a £1.9bn data centre campus in Didcot, Oxfordshire.

How the Didcot data centres could look

Announcing its second investment in the UK this year, AI hyperscaler CoreWeave confirmed £750m to support the next generation of AI cloud infrastructure.  This builds on its £1bn investment announced in May and the opening of its European headquarters in London.

Global AI platform and software leader ServiceNow also confirmed it will invest £1.15bn over the next 5 years, expanding its data centres with Nvidia GPUs for local processing data, and on new office space to support staff growth.

Logistic giant DP World unveiled its £1bn London Gateway expansion despite a row over its subsidiary P&O Ferries whichTransport Secretary Louise Haigh described as a rogue operator.

This includes building two new shipping berths, taking the total to six berths able to receive the world’s largest container ships.

The site will also see a second rail terminal added to handle the expected increase in containerised trade.

 

Latest news

Data centres and airport expansion to spur growth

Government hails £25bn data centre and £1.1bn Stansted Airport expansion plan
2 hours ago

Kier confirmed for £20m Yasa Motors Bicester HQ

Developer Bicester Motion advances future mobility business park
1 hour ago

BAM reassures supply chain after winding-up petition

Firm's credit rating temporarily affected after dispute with supplier
10 hours ago

Winvic secures Leeds build to rent scheme

Phase one of £500m Sweet Street South Bank regeneration starts
9 hours ago

£60m turnover construction group sold to staff

Meldrum Construction Services Group becomes Employee Owned Trust
10 hours ago

Starmer vows to “rip out” obstacles to investment

Prime Minister to make pledge at inaugural International Investment Summit
10 hours ago

VolkerFitzpatrick starts prep-work for £210m M3 junction upgrade

Main works to begin in early 2025 on Winchester junction job
11 hours ago

London super sewer turned on after eight years of construction

£4.5bn project starts protecting River Thames from pollution
10 hours ago

Housing and office new work jump fuels output recovery

August new construction work rebounds 1.6% after early summer fall
3 days ago

£300m London City fringe office tower approved

Rocket's 27-storey One Fairchild Street job set for take-off
4 days ago

Consultants named for London Tube Bakerloo Line extension

Aecom and architect WW+P to work up designs for four new stations
3 days ago

15 giant bridge beams lifted into place at HS2 station

Balfour Beatty VINCI carries-out civils work for Solihull station: Video
4 days ago

Ballymore JV picked for £500m King’s Cross scheme

Camley Street scheme to consist of 350 homes and offices
4 days ago

Digger stolen from Dorset site recovered in Poland

Machine found after four month police hunt
3 days ago

Construction firms face claw back of R&D tax credits

HMRC estimates only 38% of construction claims are "wholly compliant"
4 days ago

Willmott Dixon bounces back into profit in first half

CEO predicts ISG demise will shift client mindsets from lowest bid to best quality
4 days ago

M&E specialist Integral UK suffers fifth year of losses

Building services and FM specialist plunges to £32m loss
4 days ago

Glenbrook plans 44-storey Manchester resi tower

Scheme next to Deansgate station will contain 360 flats
4 days ago

Downing submits 430-bed London student scheme

Two-10 storey towers planned at Wandsworth Gasholder Site
4 days ago

Mace construction head steps down

Andrew Jackson leaves top role after three months
5 days ago

Pre-pack saves 60 jobs at fit-out firm WFC Contractors

Aviation fit-out group swoops on up-market hospitality fit-out specialist
5 days ago

Multiplex in talks for ISG’s £70m London offices to labs job

Plan to restart Regent Quarter life science campus with ISG project team
5 days ago

M&E firm goes under after more than 70 years in business

HBS Group Southern employed 75 staff
6 days ago

Trio of big names win £600m biscuit factory revamp

Developer Greystar confirms deals for McLaren, McAleer & Rushe and Sisk
6 days ago

HS2 London tunnels chief joins Transpennine Route Upgrade

James Richardson will take up MD role at TRU in New Year
5 days ago

Transport minister signals HS2 will run to Euston

Decision expected in spending review and budget later this month
6 days ago

£9bn Lower Thames Crossing decision delayed 7 months

Fears grow mega project could be axed in upcoming Budget
6 days ago

Vistry issues profit warning over build out costs at southern division

Probe launched after £115m hit on 9 schemes where build costs under estimated by 10%
6 days ago

ISG administrator tells subbies no funds to pay debts

EY warns trade creditors they are unlikely to see any of the cash they are owed
6 days ago

Giga factory powers McAlpine to top of contracts league

Work winning for the top 50 firms rebounded in September after August lull
6 days ago

Contractor services