United Kingdom: Microsoft acquires plots of land for data center campus outside Leeds

Microsoft has acquired  48 acres of land at Harworth's Skelton Grange site in Leeds for £106.6 million for a data center development. The deal comprises two adjacent plots, the first plot  27 acres and sold for £52.9 million and the second totals 21 acres and will be sold for £53.2 million.

“Since re-listing in 2015 Harworth has successfully completed a number of significant transactions that create value for our shareholders but this sale at Skelton Grange is the Group’s largest to date and is yet another exemplary case study that demonstrates the successful regeneration of brownfield land,” said Lynda Shillaw, chief executive, Harworth Group. “This transaction further builds our expertise to include data centers and evidences the growing spectrum of industries that continue to be attracted to the schemes that Harworth brings to the serviced land market.”

Harworth has owned the Skelton site since 2016. The company sold around 20 acres to Enfinium in 2019, on which it is developing a 49MW energy-from-waste renewable electricity gener