Scottish data center operator DataVita has submitted plans for a new building at its Chapelhall campus in North Lanarkshire.

DataVita said it has revised its plans for the data center, known as DV4, following four public consultation events held prior to the application being submitted.

It already operates a data center, DV1, on the site, and has another, DV3, under construction. DV2 is located elsewhere, in Glasgow.

Danny Quinn, managing director of DataVita, said: “We have seen a lot of data center speculation in Scotland recently, and the vast majority of it will never be built. DataVita has been operating in Scotland for more than ten years, and we already underpin a lot of the critical services used day in, day out across Scotland. We built DV1 at Chapelhall, we are building DV3, and we run them ourselves with a Scottish team. DV4 is the next stage of that campus.”

Following consultation, the plans show the maximum building height has been reduced from 30 meters (98 feet) to 26 meters (85 feet), an operational plant has been placed to the south of the building away from homes, and around 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) of new native hedgerow will be planted. DataVita said this is double the length of foliage that would be removed to make way for the development.

The data center would use a closed-loop cooling system to minimize water usage at the site, and be run on 100 percent renewable energy, with a target power usage effectiveness (PUE) rating of 1.25.

DataVita intends to recover surplus heat from the site, and said it is in discussions with the Monklands Replacement Hospital and the neighboring BioCity campus on the reuse of surplus heat.

A feasibility study is also underway into whether the company can build a community garden and greenhouse, warmed by surplus heat from the data center, an idea that was apparently raised by residents at the consultation events. It would be funded through a community investment fund.

Quinn added: “Not all data centers are the same, and we are keen to change the public perception. Scotland has an opportunity not only to become a data center location but an exporter of intelligence via low-carbon data centers. We don’t think of exporting barley when we talk about the success of our whisky industry, and data centers should be no different.

“The application is now with the council and open for comment, and I would encourage people to look at the details.”

DataVita has operated its DV1 data center, which was originally built by HFD Group, since 2016. It was the facility’s first occupier and took ownership of the site from a syndicate of private investors in a 2021 deal with ‘£45m ($63.1m) of support’ from DataVita’s owner.

In January 2025, DataVita filed to expand the existing Fortis building with a new external plant building, and in November applied for permission to build a new data center at the site, referred to as DV3.

The company has another facility in Glasgow, DV2, in the basement of 177 Bothwell Street. It offers 130 racks across 1,000 sqm (10,765 sq ft).

The Chapelhall campus is part of the North Lanarkshire AI Growth, designated by the UK government, meaning it is an area where data center developers are offered incentives to build new digital infrastructure.

Last year, neocloud CoreWeave announced that it was deploying an unspecified number of Nvidia GPUs in DataVita data centers.

DataVita is likely doubling down on the green credentials of its site due to ongoing opposition to data centers in Scotland. Both the ruling SNP and the Scottish Green Party have called for a temporary moratorium on new developments, voicing concerns about power and water use.

This puts the parties in opposition to the UK government in Westminster, which has backed data centers as a vehicle for economic growth.