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Overview
The stretch of south-east Northumberland between the River Blyth and the River Wansbeck is about to host a decade of heavy construction. QTS, the data centre business owned by Blackstone, is building a campus of up to ten data centre buildings on the former Blyth Power Station site at Cambois, and a second, separate data centre scheme has been proposed less than two miles away at West Sleekburn. For site managers, subcontractors and the agencies that place them, the practical question is simple: where does a crew sleep for months at a time in an area whose spare beds were built for summer visitors and a few business travellers?
This guide sets out what is being built, which towns make sensible bases, how the new rail line changes the commute and how to book for a team that rotates.
What is being built at Cambois
The Cambois Data Centre Campus sits on roughly 250 acres of brownfield land west and south of Cambois village, about 30km north of Newcastle. The power station closed in 2001 and was demolished in 2003; the site was later earmarked for the Britishvolt gigafactory before that company went into administration in 2023 (Place North East).