The projects and the towns that will feel them
The table below summarises the schemes most likely to drive demand for crew accommodation over the next few years. Figures are those published by the developers, councils or trade press at the time of writing; programmes on schemes of this size change, so check the latest position before committing to a long booking.
| Project | Location | Stated scale | Status (October 2026) | Towns to search |
|---|
| QTS Cambois campus | Cambois, near Blyth, Northumberland | Up to £10bn, up to 10 buildings, 720MW | First phase (two buildings) approved December 2025; enabling works under way | Blyth, Bedlington, Ashington, Cramlington, Morpeth |
| DataVita Chapelhall campus | Chapelhall, North Lanarkshire | DV4 £849.6m; 2,650 construction job years | DV3 under construction; DV4 application submitted September 2026 | Airdrie, Coatbridge, Motherwell, Bellshill, Glasgow east |
| Elsham Tech Park | Former RAF Elsham Wolds, North Lincolnshire | Up to 15 buildings, up to 1GW | Approved March 2026; construction expected 2027 | Brigg, Scunthorpe, Barton-upon-Humber, Grimsby |
| South Mimms campus | Hertsmere, Hertfordshire | £3.9bn; 2,500 construction jobs | Planning permission granted; in development | Potters Bar, Hatfield, St Albans, Borehamwood |
| North Wales AI Growth Zone | Prosperity Parc (Anglesey) and Trawsfynydd (Gwynedd) | 3,450 jobs claimed, including construction | Zone announced November 2025; investment partner being sought | Holyhead, Llangefni, Bangor, Porthmadog |
The North East AI Growth Zone combines the QTS Cambois campus near Blyth with the Cobalt Park data centres in North Tyneside, and the combined authority expects it to support more than 5,000 jobs across the region. At Cambois, Northumberland County Council approved the first phase, covering the first two of up to ten buildings, in December 2025, with enabling works described by the council leader as well under way. Construction Wave also reports a separate £3.8bn scheme proposed by Wansbeck Regeneration Limited about two miles away.
Cambois sits on a narrow coastal strip, so most crews will stay a short drive inland or along the coast. Blyth and Bedlington are closest; Ashington and Cramlington offer more family houses and holiday lets; Morpeth and the Northumberland coast have holiday cottages and lodge parks that sit empty for much of the winter. Teams working at Cobalt Park can also look across Tyneside, covered in the Newcastle contractor accommodation guide.
Lanarkshire became Scotland's first AI Growth Zone in January 2026, with the government expecting £8.2bn of private investment and more than 3,400 jobs. DataVita's Chapelhall campus near Airdrie is the anchor. DV3 is being built next to the existing DV1, and in September 2026 the company submitted plans for DV4, an £849.6m building expected to take two years to construct and to generate 2,650 construction job years, with at least 40% of capital contracts expected to go to local suppliers.
Chapelhall is well placed for the M8 and M73, which widens the search area to Airdrie, Coatbridge, Motherwell, Bellshill and the east side of Glasgow. North Lanarkshire already has a good stock of serviced houses and holiday lets used by contractors, and the Lanarkshire contractor accommodation guide covers the area in more detail. In Scotland, short-term lets need a licence from the local council, so it is reasonable to ask a host for their licence number before booking. The Glasgow guide is useful if you need city-centre options for engineers who prefer apartments.
North Lincolnshire Council approved Elsham Tech Park in March 2026: up to 15 hyperscale buildings on 176 hectares of the former RAF Elsham Wolds airfield, with up to 1GW of computing capacity. Published estimates of its cost range from £7.5bn to up to £10bn. According to Data Centre Review, construction is expected to begin in 2027 with the first phase opening in 2029, supporting between 2,600 and 3,600 full-time equivalent jobs a year on and off site over a build lasting around ten years.
That makes Elsham one of the longest-running construction workforces in the country. It sits between Brigg and Barton-upon-Humber, with Scunthorpe a short drive west and Grimsby and the Humber Bank further east. Grimsby is already busy with offshore wind crews, as described in the Hornsea 3 and Grimsby guide, so teams starting in 2027 may find better availability inland.
The South Mimms campus near the M25 and A1(M) junction has planning permission and is expected to create 2,500 construction jobs. It joins a cluster of builds around Slough, Hemel Hempstead and north and east London. Accommodation here is a different market: hotels and serviced apartments are plentiful but expensive at peak times, and houses in Potters Bar, Hatfield and St Albans tend to be let long-term. Weekday crews often do better with a whole house or two serviced apartments booked for a fixed block than with nightly hotel rooms.
The North Wales AI Growth Zone, announced in November 2025, straddles the Menai Strait, with sites at Prosperity Parc on Anglesey and at Trawsfynydd in Gwynedd. The government claims 3,450 jobs, including construction roles, though at announcement an investment partner was still being sought. Anglesey will also see new nuclear work at Wylfa, so crew accommodation on the island could tighten over the coming years. The Wylfa and Anglesey guide covers Holyhead, Llangefni and Bangor.
Microsoft's Skelton Grange site in Leeds is expected to begin construction in early 2027, and the Culham growth zone in Oxfordshire has an initial capacity of 100MW with plans to scale to 500MW. For the wider picture across nuclear, energy and transport as well as data centres, see the UK megaproject workforce accommodation tracker.