Microsoft has filed to build a data center outside Leeds, UK.

First reported by Insider Media, the cloud giant has filed with Leeds Council to develop a data center campus at Skelton Grange, West Yorkshire, which previously hosted a power station.

Via its MSFT MCIO LTD affiliate, the company is looking to develop three three-story data centers (listed as LBA10, 11, and 12 in some documents) totaling around 424,000 sq ft each and an on-site substation. Construction could start in early 2027.

Located to the Southeast of Leeds, Harworth bought the former Skelton Grange power station site in December 2014 for c.£3 million ($3.8m), with remediation and enabling works commencing shortly after. The company has secured planning approval for more than 1 million sq ft (92,903 sqm) of industrial and logistics space on the site to date.

Microsoft first acquired 48 acres from real estate firm Harworth in June last year for £106.6 million (then $134.83m).

Skelton Grange power station comprised two coal-powered stations in the Stourton area of Leeds, totaling 800MW. Work started on the first plant in the late 1940s, and work on the second finished in the early 1960s; plant A was decommissioned in 1983, and B in 1994.

This is the second data center campus Microsoft is looking to develop outside Leeds. In February 2024, DCD reported that Microsoft was proposing to develop a data center campus on the site of a decommissioned power station in Eggborough, North Yorkshire. Eggborough is around 20 miles east of the Skelton site.

Microsoft acquires more land in Racine County, Wisconsin

In the US, Microsoft has expanded its landholdings around its large Mount Pleasant data center campus in Wisconsin.

Citing local property records, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports Microsoft acquired two tracts totaling 85 acres at 7905 and 8537 Braun Road, Mount Pleasant, for $24.1m from West Road Investments LLC. The company also bought 50.4 acres at 4912 90th Street from Espy Farms LLC for $14.3m.

The company now owns more than 2,000 acres in the area. The first data center in the area is in the final stages of development.