Build and facilities
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England planning rules strengthen data centre support
England’s new National Planning Policy Framework explicitly links data centre development with generating capacity, grid connections, water infrastructure, and AI Growth Zones, embedding physical infrastructure requirements more firmly in national planning policy.
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Europe’s data centre boom fails Balfour Beatty’s margin test
Balfour Beatty is declining to pursue UK and continental European data centre construction at current margins, despite securing substantial new work through its expanding US buildings business.
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Larbert opposition moves into security planning
Police Scotland has urged security planning around Apatura’s proposed 300MW Larbert campus as sustained opposition brings physical access and disruption into an already contested planning process.
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Five data centres drive 1GW London grid upgrade
National Grid has launched a major north-west London transmission programme that will connect five data centres representing around 1GW of demand through new and reinforced electrical infrastructure.
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Equity gives way to financing in SWI’s Polarise reset
SWI Group has dropped its planned majority investment in Polarise and will finance the German AI infrastructure business instead, while concentrating ownership around data centres and US compute assets.
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Water pressure closes in on Warsaw data centre plan
A four-building data centre development near Warsaw is facing opposition over water demand as existing supply problems push cooling design and utility capacity deeper into the planning debate.
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Lapinlahti weighs a 500MW data centre campus
Helios Nordic Energy is seeking zoning for more than 80 hectares beside Fingrid’s Alapitkä substation, where a proposed data centre could eventually reach around 500MW.
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Frankfurt expansion draws CVC infrastructure capital
CVC DIF is taking a majority stake in firstcolo, placing fresh infrastructure capital behind a German colocation platform with a 24MW expansion already under construction near Frankfurt.
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Madrid puts another 56MW into construction
Global Switch has begun building Madrid 2, adding 56MW to a campus that will reach 70MW as Spain’s largest data centre market moves more capacity into physical delivery.
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AHEAD brings rack integration closer to European data halls
AHEAD has opened a 53,000 sq ft facility in Reading to assemble, configure, validate, and prepare complete AI, HPC, and edge rack systems before they reach European data centres.