£1bn data centre campus planned for Anglesey
A new future has been outlined for the 220-acre former Penrhos Aluminium Works in Holyhead, with Stena Line-owned property company Anglesey Land Holdings unveiling its ambitions to build up to 2.6m sq ft of data centre buildings, 107,600 sq ft of offices, and 53,800 sq ft of dedicated R&D space.
The plans for a technology park at Prosperity Parc, as the old smelting plant estate is now known, also include a battery energy storage system with capacity of up to 349MW. The retention of two access points at London Road would also be retained.
The technology park would be built on 160 acres, with the remaining land to be set aside for green infrastructure. It is part of the wider Anglesey Freeport, a series of sites that benefit from special economic rules when it comes to customs and taxation.
A public consultation has been launched for the technology park proposals and will run until 10 January 2025, with Anglesey Land Holdings hoping to submit a formal outline application to the Isle of Anglesey County Council later in the new year. You can access the consultation at cadnantplanning.co.uk/prosperity-parc.
The technology park would generate £578m for the Welsh economy each year and create 1,200 jobs when operational, according to Anglesey Land Holdings. The construction phase would see 890 jobs created with the construction cost of the data centre aspect of the plans set to be £1bn.
“Our plans will see jobs, training and the next generation of technology come to Anglesey,” said Ian Hampton, executive director at Stena Line.
Hampton also added that the company had acquired more than 100 acres just south of Prosperity Park as well as the former 2Sisters site in Llangefni, which will further help the economy of North Wales.
“By investing further in the Cae Glas land and the former 2Sisters site, we have shown how much we believe in Anglesey and how committed we are to delivering the vision of the freeport,” he said.
“We believe our plans will protect and enhance the heritage of Anglesey, the Welsh language, and the culture that we have been proud to be a part of for over 30 years.”
Data centres are notoriously energy hungry. Part of the appeal of the Prosperity Parc site is its access to a “very large amount of grid power”, as described in a planning statement from Oxalis Planning. MBA Consulting Engineers is the project’s energy and sustainability strategist, with a goal of making the scheme as low carbon as possible.
The project team includes transport consultant ADC Infrastructure, masterplanner FPCR Environment and Design, ecologist TrueLine Midlands, and flood risk and drainage consultant Alan Wood & Partners. Cadnant Planning is leading the consultation.
Rounding out the team are ArbTech, Glic, HB Geotechnical Services, Wessex Archaeodlogy, DLF-UK, Vanguardia (a Buro Happold company), and RPS (a Tetra Tech company).
Learn more about the development scene in Cheshire and North Wales. Book your ticket for Cheshire & North Wales Development Update 2025.
Hopefully a lot of apprenticeships for local Anglesey children as well as for those university graduates
By Eric Marchbanks
does anyone know if there is demand for 2,600,000 sq ft of datacentre in anglesey? to my knowledge there is less than 1000 sq ft currently in North Wales.
By Taxpayersdosh