DataVita secures £300 million to expand Scotland’s AI data centre rollout
Written by Rebecca Uffindell Tue 18 Aug 2026
DataVita has secured a c.£300 million ($405 million) debt facility to expand its data centre footprint in North Lanarkshire’s AI Growth Zone, backed by a £202 million ($273 million) National Wealth Fund guarantee and a lender group including ING, ABN AMRO, Santander, the Scottish National Investment Bank and Siemens Financial Services.
The funding will support the expansion of DV1 and the construction of DV3, with both facilities contracted to CoreWeave under a 15-year agreement. DataVita says the project marks Scotland’s first AI data centre rollout in a designated growth zone.
A Funded Buildout
The financing gives the project a clear delivery profile. DataVita has said work is already under way, every megawatt is contracted, and the first facility will be completed this year.
The company has also said the sites will operate on low-carbon electricity and use closed-loop cooling to reduce water use, placing the rollout within a wider effort to deliver AI infrastructure with lower operational impact.
The Policy Case for Domestic Compute
Kanishka Narayan, UK AI Minister, said the buildout speaks to the government’s wider case for AI infrastructure.
“AI is already helping scientists discover new medicines, supporting better public services and helping businesses get more done,” said Narayan. “The countries that build the infrastructure behind this technology will be the ones that attract investment, create jobs, and help shape the industries of the future,” he said.
Oliver Holbourn, Chief Executive of the National Wealth Fund, said access to compute remains a constraint on UK AI infrastructure growth.
“New compute capacity is key to unlocking the UK’s future, yet private finance can be difficult to secure for emerging infrastructure at this scale,” he said. “The National Wealth Fund’s guarantee is helping address that gap, giving lenders the confidence to invest.”
Datavita’s Delivery Case
Danny Quinn, Managing Director of DataVita, said the project is already moving beyond planning and into delivery.
“There is plenty of talk about AI infrastructure just now. This project is being delivered: work is well advanced on site, every megawatt is contracted, and the first facility completes this year,” he said. “The UK needs its own AI capability, built here and run here.”
That gives the North Lanarkshire rollout a different profile from speculative capacity announcements. The combination of a long-term customer contract, public guarantee, and private lending support means the project is already structured around delivery rather than future demand.
Scotland’s Place in the AI Infrastructure Map
The deal also places Scotland more firmly within the UK’s emerging AI infrastructure geography.
As countries look to secure domestic compute capacity, the key question is not only where demand exists, but where power, land, finance and customer commitments can be brought together quickly enough to deliver it.
The announcement follows last week’s update from South Wales, where Vantage Data Centers and Nebius confirmed the first commercial AI capacity commitment in the South Wales AI Growth Zone.
For Scotland, DataVita’s financing shows how that model is starting to take shape in practice. The project now has the capital, the customer and the site activity needed to move forward.
Written by Rebecca Uffindell Tue 18 Aug 2026