Chancellor welcomes approval of £10 billion data centre at Cambois in Northumberland
The Chancellor has described a £10 billion US investment in Northumberland as a “vote of confidence” for the county.
Rachel Reeves was reacting to the news that county councillors have approved outline plans for a data centre campus at Cambois, near Blyth.
The major development, which will be built on the site of the former Blyth Power Station, will provide computing power for technology such as the cloud and the emerging AI sector.
The project, described by council leader Glen Sanderson as a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’, will consist of 10 separate buildings totalling 540,000 sqm of floor space.
Built by QTS, the datacentre subsidiary of American investment firm Blackstone, total investment in Northumberland from the company could reach £10 billion, with hopes of attracting major players in the tech world such as Google and Facebook to set up shop.
Ms Reeves said: “This £10 billion investment is not just a vote of confidence for Britain as one of the world’s leading investment destinations, it is also a vote of confidence for Northumberland, and the whole North East.
“Thousands of new jobs will be created at the new Blackstone data centre as a result, generating and sharing wealth in the local economy, and helping to kickstart economic growth for the entire country.”
Each building will require around 40 staff on completion, totalling 400 specialised employees once fully built out. In addition, it is estimated that the project will create 1,200 long-term construction jobs.
Furthermore, QTS has committed to sourcing staff from within a 25 mile radius of the site and has agreed to fund the creation of an education, employment and training plan covering both the construction and operation phase. This will ensure local people have the skills needed to work in the facility.
It will also enable Northumberland County Council to establish a £110m fund which will drive long-term investment, including in growth and jobs schemes in the economic corridor along the new Northumberland Line which opened in December.
The data centre plan came forward after previous proposals for an electric car battery factory never came to fruition. The company behind the scheme, Britishvolt, collapsed into administration.