Data centres and airport expansion to spur growth

Aaron Morby 8 months ago
Share

Plans to invest £1.1bn in London Stansted airport and build yet more data centres that turbo charge digital infrastructure spend over the next five years to £25bn were hailed at the Government’s International Investment Summit on Monday.

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

The latest schemes, old and new, include a host clean energy projects corralled together in an earlier Government announcement, amount to a £63bn investment in the UK.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer held them up as drivers of the Government’s industrial growth strategy.

The Manchester Airports Group, which owns Stansted, 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, which Transport 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.

Associated British Ports also confirmed its a £200m investment in a new freight ferry terminal at Immingham, in Lincolnshire, while Imperial College London announced £150m for a tech innovation project in West London.

Its WestTech Corridor will involve repurposing a 9.6-acre site known as Victoria Industrial Estate in Old Oak close to the White City Innovation District and the future Old Oak Common Station hub.

 

Latest news

Bid race takes off for £500m MAG airport small works deal

Nine-lot framework to cover civils, building and M&E jobs up to £5m
6 hours ago

10-Year Infrastructure Strategy published

Full details as Government pledges £725bn of funding over the next decade
16 hours ago

Competition watchdog turns attention to civil engineering

Competition and Markets Authority launches study into road and rail delivery
16 hours ago

Mace director joins Wates as Chief Commercial Officer

Pat Fitzgerald to lead commercial strategy at Wates
8 hours ago

Korean firm buys part built Hackney job from failed Elements Europe

Work can now restart on 21-storey hotel and office development
19 hours ago

Mark Wild radical reset plan to rescue HS2

Senior manager bonuses scrapped and non-permanent labour cutback
22 hours ago

HS2 supply chain fraud claims spark ministerial probe

Transport secretary pledges one-year reset for HS2 to end 'litany of failures'
2 days ago

Lords launch inquiry into Building Safety Regulator delays

Industry asked for evidence of how system is failing: Have your say
1 day ago

Willmott Dixon director becomes co-owner of local contractor BSN

Nick Gibb targets £100m turnover at Dudley based national contractor
2 days ago

Dry lining boss sentenced after mystery account moves

Court hears of £500,000 in unexplained transfers before contractor went under
22 hours ago

Barhale bags £16m shaft tank for Severn Trent Water

"Final piece in the puzzle" of Etruria Vale upgrade
21 hours ago

Keltbray strikes £30m funding deal for growth

Three-year funding deal to support push into higher-margin work
2 days ago

Take That brother buys steelwork giant William Hare

Entrepreneur Simon Orange seals deal for £350m turnover contractor
3 days ago

Civils contractor LF Solutions files administration notice

£20m-turnover specialist has labour supply arm and own plant fleet
2 days ago

Joseph Gallagher lands £50m green energy deal

Major trenchless construction contract for HyNet North West project
2 days ago

New boss drives NG Bailey to record revenue

Fresh strategy lifts M&E group's order book to £1.6bn
2 days ago

Costain wins vast underground hydrogen storage design job

Firms lands FEED contract for Cheshire salt caverns conversion
2 days ago

Graham gets green light for £70m Glasgow student tower

Construction due to start this year on 25-storey Anderston scheme
2 days ago

New £16bn National Housing Bank to drive 500k new builds

Homes England given new powers to finance stalled and complex schemes
2 days ago

Morgan Sindall upgrades profits forecast for this year

Overbury fitout and construction operations exceed trading expectations
3 days ago

Major project bidders to face ‘British jobs’ test

Contractors to face tougher jobs pledge scrutiny under new procurement shake-up
4 days ago

Green light for £32m Wythenshawe Culture Hub

Construction to start this year on first phase of £500m town centre revamp
3 days ago

Hercules delivers record first half as HS2 fuels growth

Labour supply specialist says HS2 demand climbing with 630 workers now deployed
3 days ago

Private equity firm acquires Hepworth Clay pipes business

Historic UK drainage manufacturer sold by Wavin
3 days ago

Balfour Beatty names new Scottish MD

Nick Rowan to take reins as Hector MacAulay to retire after 40 years
4 days ago

£500m rail deal locks in future for Scunthorpe steelworks

Government-backed deal with Network Rail safeguards UK production
3 days ago

Morrison rides in for £19m mountain bike R&D hub

Flagship Borders cycling R&D hub set for Caerlee Mill site
4 days ago

Revised plan submitted for Manchester landmark towers

400 more flats added to Albert Bridge House scheme
4 days ago

Job losses loom at consultant GHD

Redundancy consultation underway with jobs at risk
4 days ago

Knight Harwood lifts margin to 4.9% as profit hits £6.5m

London specialist sees strong office and luxury resi pipeline
4 days ago

Contractor services