The council leader has welcomed plans for an £8.2 billion investment and the creation of up to 7,000 jobs in the wider region, following a UK Government announcement naming Lanarkshire as the latest UK AI Growth Zone.
The announcement involving Chapelhall-based data centre solutions provider DataVita, in partnership with AI tech firm CoreWeave, is an opportunity to put North Lanarkshire on the UK map as a host for one of the largest investments in the future data and digital economy.
The proposals will be subject to the full statutory planning process, and all stakeholders will be fully consulted ahead of any final planning decision.
Councillor Jim Logue, Leader of North Lanarkshire Council, said: “The AI Growth Zone could be truly transformative and is an opportunity to see the continued resurgence of North Lanarkshire, which was once the centre of Scottish heavy industry and could soon become the heart that powers the country’s future data and digital economy.
“The people here have always had the same spirit and workforce ethic as before. North Lanarkshire didn’t just power the industrial revolution; this leap in technology makes us the natural home to lead the next one.”
The AI Growth Zone plans could mean over £8 billion of investment, creating up to 3,400 direct jobs and potentially up to 7,000 jobs in the wider area, subject to planning permission.
Alongside a £543 million community fund, the plans could also mean potentially billions of pounds of investment in terms of value and benefits for local people, communities and the future of North Lanarkshire.
North Lanarkshire already has an enviable transport network, and the council’s biggest-ever roads and infrastructure investment is well underway with the creation of the Pan-Lanarkshire Orbital Transport Corridor—a multi-million-pound project linking the M74 in the south with the M80 in the north.
Around 58% of the employment land supply across the Glasgow City Region sits in North Lanarkshire, and with a network of 340km of full-fibre digital infrastructure already laid, the digital connectivity is in place.
Working with schools, colleges and universities, pathways are already being created for a digitally skilled workforce pipeline on its doorstep.
Councillor Logue added: “We have been creating the conditions for North Lanarkshire to be a place that supports economic growth, innovation, productivity and digital inclusion, and this presents an opportunity to reshape our economy, bringing huge benefits to the people who live and work here.”