Summary
- Ferrovial plans to develop a data centre campus in Alcobendas with more than €1bn of investment and more than 100MW of total capacity.
- The first phase, MAD01, is expected to reach 60MW of total power, including 40MW of IT load.
- The project has been declared of special interest by Madrid’s regional investment accelerator and has favourable reports and an earthworks licence.
Ferrovial is planning a data centre campus in Alcobendas, Madrid, with more than €1bn of investment and total capacity expected to exceed 100MW.
The project, being advanced through Ferrovial Digital Infrastructure, will begin with a first phase known as MAD01. That phase is expected to provide 60MW of total power, including 40MW of IT load, on one of four plots in the Valdelacasa area.
The first phase investment is reported at €153m, while the full campus is expected to cover around 32,000 sq m. The Community of Madrid says the project has been declared of special interest by the regional investment accelerator and has favourable reports covering urban planning, digital strategy, and energy transition, as well as an earthworks licence.
From contractor to capacity developer
Ferrovial is best known as an infrastructure and construction group, but the Alcobendas campus takes it further into the ownership and development side of digital infrastructure. The company has already worked on data centre projects for major customers, including Microsoft and Telefónica. Developing a campus for lease to customers brings different exposure, tying Ferrovial to power strategy, tenant demand, land control, permitting, and long-term asset performance.
That shift fits a broader Spanish pattern. Construction groups, energy developers, real estate investors, and renewable power specialists are moving into the data centre pipeline because many of the sector’s hardest problems now sit outside the server room. Land assembly, utility coordination, grid studies, permitting, major MEP procurement, and industrial-scale project management are becoming decisive capabilities.
Madrid remains the most mature Spanish data centre hub, but growth is putting more pressure on power availability, substation timing, planning capacity, and local acceptance. Ferrovial’s ability to move through a regional fast-track process gives the scheme administrative momentum, although the project still has to convert that progress into energised and customer-ready capacity.
The scale of MAD01 puts it beyond a modest metro expansion. A 40MW IT load is large enough to attract hyperscale and AI-related interest, even without a disclosed tenant. If the facility is to support high-density deployments, its mechanical and electrical design will need to carry heavier assumptions around cooling, redundancy, power distribution, and future fit-out than a conventional enterprise facility.
Madrid’s permitting route is part of the asset
The Community of Madrid’s investment accelerator has become an important part of the region’s data centre proposition. Since its creation in 2023, the accelerator has declared 17 projects of special interest, with total investment close to €9bn. Eleven of those are data processing centre projects, according to the regional government.
Fast-track processes can reduce administrative drag, but they also place more weight on the quality of the supporting evidence. Large data centres now need credible answers on electricity supply, cooling, water exposure, noise, construction traffic, and local benefit. Public authorities may want the investment, but the facilities still create heavy and long-lived infrastructure demand.
Alcobendas already has digital infrastructure credentials, giving the campus a stronger connectivity and market logic than a speculative remote site. That concentration can improve customer appeal and supplier availability, although it can also increase pressure on local energy infrastructure and development coordination. A multi-plot campus amplifies those questions because network planning and enabling works often need to consider the full scheme even if the halls are delivered in phases.
The campus will test whether a major infrastructure contractor can build a durable digital infrastructure platform rather than simply deliver projects for others. If MAD01 proceeds as planned, Ferrovial will have moved from data centre construction into a more strategic position in Spain’s capacity market.
