DataVita invites Greens to Chapelhall data centre tour

DataVita has invited the Scottish Greens and Action to Protect Rural Scotland to visit its data centre campus at Chapelhall ahead of an expected Scottish Parliament debate on calls for a moratorium on large-scale data centres.

The Scottish data centre and cloud services provider published open letters to Ross Greer MSP, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, and Dr Kat Jones, director of Action to Protect Rural Scotland. The invitation to Greer also extends to co-leader Gillian Mackay MSP. Both letters say colleagues, including planning and technical advisers, would be welcome.

The visits would allow those invited to inspect existing operations, review construction work at the Chapelhall site and discuss plans for a fourth facility, known as DV4.

DataVita has operated data centres in Scotland for more than a decade. It owns and runs the DV1 facility at Chapelhall, is building DV3 beside it and operates a second site in Glasgow.

The move places the company directly in a political argument over how Scotland should handle the growth of large data centres, particularly those linked to artificial intelligence. The Scottish Greens are expected to renew calls for a pause on all large-scale data centre applications across Scotland.

Campus expansion

DataVita recently secured about GBP £300 million from a group of lenders to expand DV1 and build DV3. The lenders include the UK Government's National Wealth Fund.

The funding supports the development of what DataVita describes as Scotland's first AI data centres within a designated AI Growth Zone in Lanarkshire. The project also forms part of a wider local investment case focused on jobs, infrastructure and technology training.

Figures cited by DataVita from the UK Government estimate that full adoption of AI could add up to GBP £47 billion a year to the UK economy over the next decade. The company says the Chapelhall campus could support more than 3,400 new jobs and attract more than GBP £8 billion of private investment in North Lanarkshire.

In the nearer term, the expansion of DV1 and construction of DV3 are expected to create about 600 construction jobs and about 100 permanent roles once completed.

A Community Investment Fund linked to the Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone is also due to provide up to GBP £543 million in direct funding to North Lanarkshire over 15 years, according to DataVita. This would include skills and training programmes in AI, coding and other areas of technology, as well as support for local food banks and charities.

Public debate

Debate around data centres in Scotland has increasingly focused on energy use, land use and environmental impact. Supporters argue they are critical infrastructure for public services, cloud computing and AI, while critics have raised concerns about the scale of future developments and their effect on communities and resources.

DataVita says its Chapelhall facilities use renewable energy and closed-loop cooling systems. Its planned new facilities are also intended to make a positive contribution to Scotland's electricity grid.

Danny Quinn, managing director of DataVita, said: "Nearly all of us use data centres every single day, whether we realise it or not - from online banking and working from home to scientists delivering groundbreaking medical research. They are the critical infrastructure that makes many of the things we do in modern life possible, and that will only accelerate as technology becomes even more entwined with daily life.

"For more than a decade, we've been supporting Scotland's public services, businesses and households to take advantage of the many benefits of online services. And although AI is very much a hot topic at the moment, there is no doubt it is here to stay. The question for Scotland is how best to use it to support jobs, skills, the public services we all rely on and the way we live more generally.

"DataVita fully supports an open public debate about the right kind of controls to have in place for AI and, where necessary, government action to protect our economy, society and environment. But the importance of the decisions we make about AI for Scotland's future economy cannot be overstated. We need to move beyond a debate in which one side has to be entirely right and the other entirely wrong.

"Where opinions differ, open and honest dialogue is the best way forward. A visit would give us the opportunity to show how our facilities operate and have a detailed conversation about our plans. We can explain the choices behind their design, hear people's questions and discuss them directly.

"Data centres differ in what they do and how they are designed and operated. We would welcome the chance to explain how those differences apply to our facilities and proposals. We are making these invitations public because the developments are of public interest.

"People should be able to see that we are willing to explain our work, listen to different views and have a constructive discussion. We hope the invitations will be accepted."

DV4 is the subject of a planning permission in principle application lodged with North Lanarkshire Council for a data centre and associated infrastructure at Lancaster Avenue in Chapelhall.