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 | Cloud HubInterested in this information?Contact us | |
| NN milesInterested in this information?Contact us | GlobalInterested 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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