McLaren Construction Group and Phoenix ME are moving into predevelopment on one of the UK’s most closely watched data centre projects, after Corscale Data Centers appointed the team to progress the 140MW Court Lane data centre campus in Iver, Buckinghamshire.
The scheme, widely reported as a circa £1bn campus investment, will redevelop the former Court Lane Industrial Estate into a large hyperscale digital infrastructure campus. The 14-acre site sits beside the M25, north of Heathrow, in the West London and Slough data centre corridor, one of the UK’s most important locations for cloud, enterprise and AI infrastructure.
For construction, the project is more than another data centre announcement. Court Lane brings together the main pressures shaping the UK digital infrastructure boom: brownfield remediation, major utility diversions, grid capacity, high-voltage infrastructure, MEP delivery, cooling, planning intervention, Green Belt pressure and long-lead specialist equipment.
The key construction message is clear: Court Lane is not just a 140MW data centre campus. It is a test of whether the UK construction supply chain can convert power-secured, planning-sensitive brownfield sites into mission-critical infrastructure at the speed demanded by AI and cloud growth.
What This Means
Court Lane is a major hyperscale data centre campus proposed for the former Court Lane Industrial Estate at Iver, Buckinghamshire. The site is approximately 14 acres and is planned to deliver up to 140MW of IT capacity across two data centre buildings, supported by a dedicated 140MVA substation. Corscale Data Centers, a US hyperscale developer, is behind the project. McLaren Construction has been appointed under a pre-construction services agreement, with Phoenix ME as MEP delivery partner. The wider project team includes Gensler as architect, Cundall for MEP design and L&P Group providing engineering support.
The appointment is significant because the project is now moving from planning and predevelopment into physical enabling activity. Site clearance, utility diversions and remediation are expected to form the early works programme, with predevelopment works starting from 1 July 2026 and practical completion targeted for late 2029. For contractors and suppliers, the opportunity is substantial. Court Lane will require civils, remediation, demolition, utilities, earthworks, foundations, structural frame, envelope, high-voltage power infrastructure, data centre MEP, cooling, security, fit-out and integrated commissioning capability.
By the Numbers
| Measure | Court Lane Detail | Construction Relevance |
|---|---|---|
| Reported campus value | Circa £1bn | Places the scheme in the major-project category, although the figure should be treated as reported campus value rather than a confirmed single construction contract. |
| IT capacity | 140MW | Confirms true hyperscale scale, with major MEP, cooling and power infrastructure demand. |
| Substation capacity | 140MVA dedicated substation | Power infrastructure is central to delivery, not a secondary utility connection. |
| Site area | 14 acres / around 5.7 hectares | Large enough for campus delivery but still constrained by existing industrial uses, utilities and local interfaces. |
| Planned floorspace | Up to 65,000 sqm GEA | Indicates a substantial building and MEP fit-out programme across major data centre structures. |
| Predevelopment start | 1 July 2026 | Moves the scheme into site clearance, enabling works, utility diversion and remediation activity. |
| Target completion | Late 2029 / Q4 2029 | Creates a demanding programme across brownfield, utility, structural, MEP and commissioning stages. |
Why Iver and the M25 Corridor Matter
Court Lane sits in the West London data centre corridor, close to Slough, Hayes, Heathrow and the M25. This location matters because data centres need more than land. They need power, fibre connectivity, logistics access, proximity to existing cloud and enterprise ecosystems, and enough planning justification to overcome local constraints. The Slough and West London market has become one of the UK’s main digital infrastructure clusters. Demand from cloud computing, enterprise workloads, AI, financial services and high-density computing is increasing pressure on suitable sites. Brownfield industrial land near major infrastructure is therefore strategically valuable, even where planning and remediation risks are high.
Court Lane also shows why the next wave of data centre delivery will not be simple. The easiest sites have already been heavily contested. New hyperscale capacity increasingly depends on difficult land: former industrial estates, Green Belt pressure points, constrained utility corridors and sites that require substantial environmental and enabling works before main construction begins. For UK construction, that means data centre growth is becoming a civils, planning and utilities story as much as an MEP story.
Planning History and Strategic Significance
The Court Lane site has an important planning history. The outline planning application for demolition of the Court Lane Industrial Estate and redevelopment as a data centre was refused by Buckinghamshire Council, with Green Belt concerns central to the local decision. The scheme was later determined through a recovered appeal, with the Secretary of State allowing the appeal and granting outline planning permission in December 2024. That decision highlighted the strategic need for data centre capacity in the Slough availability zone and the lack of alternative sites able to meet that demand.
For the construction market, this is a significant precedent. It shows that data centre capacity is increasingly being treated as nationally important infrastructure, even where local planning resistance exists. The decision does not remove environmental or local concerns, but it demonstrates how government may weigh digital infrastructure need against Green Belt harm. That matters for future projects. If data centre demand keeps rising, contractors and developers should expect more planning cases where local impact, power demand, economic need and national digital infrastructure policy collide.
Related LCM Intelligence
Court Lane sits inside the wider construction cost, power and digital infrastructure debate. See LCM’s analysis of data centre material price risk, UK steel import quotas and construction supply-chain risk, and the London Construction Project Delivery Risk Report.
Enabling Works: Why This Is Not a Simple Data Centre Build
The existing Court Lane site is not a clean platform. It has been used as a mixed heavy industrial estate, with uses including recycling, waste transfer, concrete and aggregate handling, vehicle storage, garages and tyre distribution. That makes site clearance and remediation central to the delivery strategy. The enabling works are expected to include demolition, site clearance, utility diversions and environmental remediation. The most prominent early technical challenge is the relocation of two 36-inch Affinity Water mains crossing the site. These are not minor services. They are major water infrastructure assets that must be protected, diverted, tested and coordinated before heavy structural works can proceed.
That work brings significant programme risk. Large-diameter water main diversion requires careful sequencing, deep excavation, temporary works, shutdown planning or live-network coordination, pressure testing and statutory undertaker approvals. A delay in utility diversion can delay piling, substation works, drainage, foundations and the wider site logistics plan. Remediation is the second major early risk. Industrial estates can contain made ground, hydrocarbons, heavy metals, asbestos-containing materials, waste residues and contaminated groundwater. The project team will need a clear investigation, remediation and validation strategy before the site can safely support heavy data centre structures and mission-critical infrastructure.
Power, MEP and Cooling Will Define Delivery
A 140MW data centre campus is fundamentally a power and MEP project wrapped in a building envelope. The data halls, structure and cladding matter, but the critical delivery challenge is electrical resilience, cooling capacity, controls, fire protection, security, commissioning and operational reliability. The dedicated 140MVA substation is therefore central to the scheme. High-voltage infrastructure, cable routes, transformers, switchgear, backup generation, UPS systems, containment, earthing and testing will shape the programme. These packages often carry long procurement lead times and require early design certainty.
Phoenix ME’s role as MEP delivery partner and Cundall’s role in MEP design underline the technical weight of the building services package. Data centre MEP is not standard commercial office MEP. It demands high redundancy, strict commissioning, complex sequencing and experienced specialist labour. Cooling is another major risk. The final cooling strategy has not been publicly detailed, but high-density AI and cloud facilities increasingly require more sophisticated cooling design. Whether the campus uses chilled-water systems, air-based systems, liquid cooling pathways or hybrid arrangements, the cooling solution will affect power demand, water infrastructure, roof plant, maintenance, resilience and environmental performance.
What 140MW Means in Construction Terms
A 140MW IT load places Court Lane in the hyperscale category. This is not a small enterprise data centre or local server facility. It is a major campus capable of supporting cloud, AI and high-density digital infrastructure demand at national scale. In construction terms, 140MW means heavy electrical infrastructure, large quantities of specialist MEP equipment, high floor-loading requirements, strict environmental control, robust fire and security systems, and a long commissioning period. Data centres are not complete when the shell is finished. They are complete when systems have been tested, integrated, loaded and proven under mission-critical conditions.
That creates a different type of construction programme. Structural completion is only one milestone. Electrical energisation, mechanical completion, integrated systems testing, resilience testing and staged handover can be just as critical. For contractors, suppliers and consultants, the data centre boom rewards technical reliability. A late transformer, failed commissioning sequence or unresolved utility interface can become more important than a conventional building delay.
Construction Risks to Watch
| Risk Area | Why It Matters | Construction Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Water main relocation | Two 36-inch water mains cross the site. | Utility diversion could drive the early critical path before foundations and substation works proceed. |
| Brownfield remediation | Historic industrial uses create contamination uncertainty. | Unexpected ground conditions can affect cost, programme, earthworks, waste classification and validation. |
| Grid and power delivery | 140MW requires major high-voltage infrastructure. | Connection, switchgear, transformers and energisation dates can dominate programme risk. |
| MEP capacity | Data centre MEP is specialist and labour-intensive. | Competition for experienced MEP subcontractors and commissioning engineers may affect delivery. |
| Long-lead equipment | Transformers, generators, switchgear and cooling plant often have long lead times. | Procurement must start early or the late-2029 completion target could come under pressure. |
| Planning and local sensitivity | The project sits in a contested Green Belt and infrastructure context. | Traffic, noise, visual impact, energy and water concerns may remain active during delivery. |
Supply Chain Opportunities
Court Lane should create opportunities across the UK construction supply chain. The early phase will favour demolition, remediation, ground investigation, earthworks, civils, drainage, utilities, water main diversion, temporary works and environmental specialists. The main construction phase is likely to involve foundations, structural frames, envelope, roofing, cladding, internal roads, drainage, security infrastructure and heavy plant areas. Because the campus must sit near the Grade II-listed Iver Court Farmhouse, architectural treatment and visual mitigation will also matter.
The MEP phase will be the largest specialist opportunity. High-voltage contractors, electrical distribution specialists, generator suppliers, UPS providers, switchgear manufacturers, mechanical contractors, cooling specialists, controls providers, fire suppression firms and commissioning engineers will all be central to delivery. The project also has a skills angle. Data centre delivery requires trained labour across HV, controls, commissioning, mechanical systems, containment, testing and technical fit-out. The more data centre campuses the UK brings forward at once, the more pressure there will be on specialist labour.
Local and Economic Impact
The project would transform an ageing industrial estate into a high-value digital infrastructure asset. That creates potential benefits through site regeneration, construction work, supply-chain spend, business rates, infrastructure upgrades and long-term technology-sector positioning. However, data centres also generate local concerns. Power demand, water use, noise, traffic, visual impact, generator provision, embodied carbon and environmental mitigation are now central to public debate around large digital infrastructure projects.
The Court Lane planning history shows this tension clearly. Local planning concerns did not disappear, but central government weighed those concerns against the wider economic and digital infrastructure case. That makes Court Lane a useful indicator for the next generation of UK data centre projects. The construction opportunity is significant, but so is the requirement to prove environmental, infrastructure and community impact controls.
Practical Scenarios
A utilities contractor may become critical path before the data centre frame has even started. If the water main diversion slips, piling, drainage, substation corridors and site logistics could be delayed.
A remediation package may discover contamination beyond the original investigation assumptions. That can change waste classification, disposal routes, validation testing and earthworks sequencing.
An MEP package may be affected by global long-lead procurement. If transformers, switchgear or backup generation are not ordered early enough, the building could be physically ready before it can be energised and commissioned.
A cooling design change driven by AI rack density could alter plant requirements, pipework, energy demand, roof loading and internal space planning. On a 140MW campus, late MEP change is not minor design development — it can become a major programme and cost issue.
Evidence-Based Summary
Court Lane is a major UK data centre construction signal.
The project brings together hyperscale demand, West London corridor pressure, Green Belt planning intervention, brownfield remediation, major water main diversion and high-voltage power delivery.
For McLaren, Phoenix ME and the wider supply chain, the opportunity is substantial. But the delivery challenge is equally clear: remediation, utilities, MEP capacity, grid infrastructure, long-lead equipment and integrated commissioning will determine whether the late-2029 target is achieved.
The project shows where UK construction is heading: not just building floorspace, but delivering power-secure, AI-ready, mission-critical infrastructure on difficult land.
FAQ: Court Lane Data Centre Campus
What is the Court Lane Data Centre Campus?
It is a planned hyperscale data centre campus at the former Court Lane Industrial Estate in Iver, Buckinghamshire, intended to deliver up to 140MW of IT capacity.
Who is developing the project?
The project is being developed by Corscale Data Centers, a US-based hyperscale data centre developer.
What role does McLaren Construction have?
McLaren Construction has been appointed under a pre-construction services agreement and is positioned as the main contractor for delivery, with Phoenix ME as MEP delivery partner.
How large is the Court Lane campus?
The site is around 14 acres and the proposed campus is planned to provide up to 140MW of IT capacity, supported by a dedicated 140MVA substation.
When does construction start?
Predevelopment and enabling works are scheduled to start from 1 July 2026, with practical completion targeted for late 2029.
Why are water mains important on this project?
Two 36-inch Affinity Water mains cross the site and must be relocated before major construction works can progress. This makes utilities diversion a key early programme risk.
Why is the site difficult?
The site is an ageing industrial estate with historic heavy industrial uses, requiring clearance, environmental remediation, utility diversions and careful coordination around existing infrastructure and local constraints.
Why does this matter for UK construction?
Court Lane shows how AI and cloud demand are creating major construction opportunities, but also putting pressure on power infrastructure, MEP capacity, utilities, remediation, planning and specialist supply chains.
Source Context and Editorial Note
This article is a London Construction Magazine news analysis based on project information from McLaren Construction Group, specialist data centre and construction press coverage, and planning context for the Court Lane Industrial Estate redevelopment at Iver, Buckinghamshire. Relevant sources include: McLaren Construction Group: Corscale appoints McLaren Construction and Phoenix ME, Data Center Dynamics: Corscale targets 2029 launch for 140MW campus outside London, and the recovered appeal decision for Court Lane Industrial Estate.
The circa £1bn figure is treated as reported campus value rather than a confirmed single construction contract sum. This article does not provide planning, legal, engineering, environmental, procurement or investment advice. Project scope, contract structure, package values, technical design, grid arrangements, cooling strategy and final delivery sequencing should be checked against official project documents and future procurement releases.
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Expert Verification & Authorship: Mihai Chelmus
Founder, London Construction Magazine | Construction Testing & Investigation Specialist |
