DataVita has secured approximately £300 million in debt financing to expand its DV1 data centre and construct a new DV3 facility in North Lanarkshire, moving another major tranche of Scotland’s AI infrastructure into physical delivery.
The financing is supported by a £202 million guarantee from the UK National Wealth Fund. AI cloud infrastructure provider CoreWeave has contracted the full capacity of both facilities under a 15-year agreement, giving the project long-term demand visibility as construction advances inside the Lanarkshire AI Growth Zone.
£300m Facility Brings Public and Private Capital Together
The financing syndicate includes ING, ABN AMRO, Santander, the Scottish National Investment Bank and Siemens Financial Services through Siemens Bank. The National Wealth Fund guarantee covers 80% of a £252.5 million lending tranche supplied by ING, ABN AMRO and Santander, while the remaining financing from SNIB and Siemens Financial Services is uncovered.
“This project is being delivered: work is well advanced on site, every megawatt is contracted and the first facility completes this year.” — Danny Quinn, Managing Director, DataVita
CoreWeave Contract De-Risks New Capacity
CoreWeave’s long-term commitment gives DataVita a contracted customer before the new capacity is fully commissioned. That is increasingly important in AI infrastructure because developers must commit substantial capital to power systems, cooling, buildings and high-density computing environments well before revenue begins.
The arrangement also strengthens the financing case for lenders. A 15-year contract provides greater visibility over utilisation and cash flow than a speculative build, while the public guarantee reduces part of the credit risk attached to the lending package.
Low-Carbon Power and Closed-Loop Cooling Shape the Design
DataVita says the facilities will connect to Scotland’s low-carbon electricity mix and use closed-loop cooling to reduce water draw. Those design choices matter as AI clusters push rack densities higher and make both electricity supply and thermal management central to site selection.
The financing is also the National Wealth Fund’s first support for domestic compute capacity. That gives the transaction a broader policy role: the UK is treating AI data centres as strategic infrastructure linked to sovereign compute, regional investment and economic development.
Funding Links Scotland’s AI Growth Zone to New Capacity
DataVita’s transaction combines four characteristics increasingly associated with bankable AI infrastructure: large-scale private debt, public credit support, active construction and a long-term hyperscale customer. The model reduces demand and financing risk at the same time.
For Scotland, the project creates a route for abundant low-carbon electricity to support higher-value digital infrastructure. For the wider market, it demonstrates how governments may use guarantees rather than direct ownership to accelerate domestic AI capacity.
DV1 Expansion and DV3 Development Move Into Focus
Construction and expansion work will continue across DV1 and DV3, with DataVita indicating that the first financed facility is expected to complete during 2026. The next milestones will be commissioning, installation of AI-ready infrastructure and commencement of CoreWeave’s contracted capacity.
DV1 and DV3 are intended to form the opening phase of a larger campus. If the financing structure performs as planned, it could become a template for future UK AI data centre projects that combine private lenders, public guarantees and contracted compute demand.
