Microsoft is planning a new data center campus at the former Skelton Grange power station site in West Yorkshire. Operating through its affiliate, MSFT MCIO LTD, the company intends to construct three three-story data centers, identified in planning documents as LBA10, 11, and 12, each spanning approximately 424,000 sq ft. The project also includes an on-site substation, with construction slated to begin in early 2027.
The development follows Microsoft’s June 2024 acquisition of 48 acres at the Leeds site from the Harworth Group for £106.6 million ($134.83m). The purchase was split into two adjacent plots: 27 acres for £52.9 million and 21 acres for £53.2 million.
This project marks Microsoft’s second campus near Leeds and represents a significant transformation for the site. Originally home to two coal-fired power stations (decommissioned in 1983 and 1994), the land was purchased by Harworth in 2014 for just £3 million. Before Microsoft’s acquisition, the site had been considered for various high-profile uses, including a Leeds United stadium and an HS2 rail depot.
| Distance | Site | About |
|---|---|---|
| NN milesInterested in this information?Contact us | ThreeInterested in this information?Contact us | |
| NN milesInterested in this information?Contact us | Edge StationInterested in this information?Contact us | |
| NN milesInterested in this information?Contact us | aql: Leeds DC2 |
DC2 & DC3 are the company's flagship sites, located within a historic 18th-century chapel. DC3 is famous for its "glass-floored" conference room situated directly above the server racks
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| NN milesInterested in this information?Contact us | aql: Leeds DC5 |
DC5 Canon House is aql’s purpose-built High-Performance Computing (HPC) hub, situated approximately half a mile from the Salem Chapel campus.
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| NN milesInterested in this information?Contact us | aql: Leeds DC3 |
DC2 & DC3 are the company's flagship sites, located within a historic 18th-century chapel. DC3 is famous for its "glass-floored" conference room situated directly above the server racks
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| NN milesInterested in this information?Contact us | Lumen: Leeds (Sterling House) | |
| NN milesInterested in this information?Contact us | Gridjet: DC4 & DC5 |
Gridjet Datacentre Ltd operates a strategically located facility in Leeds, UK, providing a versatile infrastructure across two distinct data halls.
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| NN milesInterested in this information?Contact us | Virgin Media Leeds (Temple House) |
Campus exterior and data hall photography for this operator.
Campus exterior and data hall photography for this operator.
Campus exterior and data hall photography for this operator.
Microsoft uses Containers (called ITPACs) to build out its data centers. These Containers are Shipping Containers fitted with all the necessary climate control, networking, server racks and other hardware necessary to be a “mini” data center all in one.
An Azure region is a set of data centers deployed within a latency-defined perimeter and connected through a dedicated regional low-latency network.
With more global regions than any other cloud provider, Azure gives customers the flexibility to deploy applications where they need to. Azure is generally available in 46 regions around the world, with plans announced for 8 additional regions.
An Azure geography is a discrete market, typically containing two or more regions, that preserves data residency and compliance boundaries.
Geographies allow customers with specific data-residency and compliance needs to keep their data and applications close. Geographies are fault-tolerant to withstand complete region failure through their connection to our dedicated high-capacity networking infrastructure.
Availability Zones are physically separate locations within an Azure region. Each Availability Zone is made up of one or more data centers equipped with independent power, cooling, and networking.
Availability Zones allow customers to run mission-critical applications with high availability and low-latency replication.
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August 04, 2026 Microsoft Azure
Swiss startup Exclaim Robotics, founded by a former Microsoft engineer, has raised $4.95 million in pre-seed funding to develop autonomous robots for AI data center maintenance. Backed by Founderful and Playfair, the company aims to automate remote hands tasks such as cleaning optics,...
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July 14, 2026 Microsoft Azure
Pure DC has launched the first phase of its Seinäjoki, Finland, data center project, with Microsoft reportedly among the customers leasing capacity at the site. The initial phase will deliver 110MW of capacity with an estimated investment of $1.7 billion. Pure DC has been developing plans for the...
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July 10, 2026 Microsoft Azure
Microsoft reported a 25 percent year-on-year rise in carbon emissions, with total Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions increasing to 20.29 million metric tons of CO₂e as data center expansion accelerated. The company said the jump was largely due to its decision to stop using unbundled renewable energy...
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July 04, 2026 Microsoft Azure
National Grid Ventures (NGV), the commercial arm of National Grid, has acquired a 35% stake in Joulent for $1.75 billion to support development of power infrastructure for large data centers. The investment will help fund Project Kilby, a 2.67GW natural gas facility being developed with Chevron....
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June 23, 2026 Microsoft Azure
The first data center at Microsoft’s Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin campus is now officially operational, the company confirmed on June 23. Construction was completed just over two years after the project was first announced. The site is part of Microsoft’s “Fairwater” data center design and will form...
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