Data centre boss invites critics to meet at campus – Daily Business

DataVita boss Danny Quinn is seeking to bring an end to the debate over the sector’s development by inviting critics to tour his facility in North Lanarkshire.

He has extended the welcome to Greens co-leader Ross Greer and Dr Kat Jones, director of Action to Protect Rural Scotland (APRS).

The invitation to Mr Greer extends to his co-leader, Gillian Mackay MSP and both letters welcome colleagues, including planning and technical advisers.

It comes ahead of the Scottish Greens using their opposition debate today to renew calls for a moratorium on all large-scale data centre applications across Scotland.

The proposed visits would provide an opportunity to see DataVita’s existing operations, discuss the construction under way at Chapelhall and ask questions about the company’s published proposals for its fourth data centre, DV4.

DataVita has operated data centres in Scotland for more than ten years. The company built, owns and runs its DV1 facility in Chapelhall, is constructing DV3 alongside it and operates a second facility in Glasgow.

Its facilities are widely recognised as being some of the most energy efficient and sustainable in the UK, making use of renewable energy and closed-loop cooling to limit their draw on resources, with plans for the new facilities to be positive contributors to Scotland’s grid.

The company recently secured funding of around £300 million from a syndicate of lenders, including the UK Government’s National Wealth Fund, to expand DV1 and build its new DV3 facility, enabling the delivery of Scotland’s first AI data centres within a designated AI Growth Zone.

Figures from the UK Government estimate that, fully adopted, AI could be worth up to £47 billion a year to the UK economy over the next decade, including more than 3,400 new jobs and private investment totalling more than £8 billion in North Lanarkshire through the data centre campus.

More immediately, the expansion and development of DV1 and DV3 will create around 600 jobs during construction, as well as around 100 permanent high-skilled roles once completed.

The Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone features a Community Investment Fund that will provide up to £543 million in direct funding to North Lanarkshire over 15 years. This includes skills and training programmes in AI, coding, and other areas of technology for local people, as well as support for local food banks and charities, all delivered in partnership with the community. 

Mr Quinn, managing director at DataVita, said: “Nearly all of us use data centres every single day whether we realise it or not – from being able to use online banking and working from home, to scientists delivering groundbreaking medical research.

“They are the critical infrastructure that makes many of the things we do in modern life possible, and that is only going to accelerate as technology becomes even more entwined with daily life.

“For more than a decade, we’ve been supporting Scotland’s public services, businesses and even households to take advantage of the many benefits from online services. And, although AI is very much a hot topic at the moment, there is no doubt it is here to stay and the question for Scotland is how can we best use it to support jobs, skills, the public services we all rely on and the way we live, more generally.

“DataVita fully supports an open public debate about the right kind of controls to have in place for AI and, where necessary, government action to protect our economy, society and environment.

“But the importance of the decisions we make about AI for Scotland’s future economy cannot be overstated. We need to move beyond a debate in which one side has to be entirely right and the other entirely wrong.

“Where opinions differ, open and honest dialogue is the best way forward. A visit gives us the opportunity to show how our facilities operate and have a detailed conversation about our plans. We can explain the choices behind their design, hear the questions people have and discuss them directly.

“Data centres differ in what they do and how they are designed and operated. We would welcome the chance to explain how those differences apply to our facilities and proposals and we are making these invitations public because the developments are of public interest.

“People should be able to see that we are willing to explain our work, listen to different views and have a constructive discussion. We hope the invitations will be accepted.

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