• The undisclosed site has planning consent and power connections, with Harworth in advanced sale talks with several parties
  • Harworth says 800MW of power connections across its portfolio are either conditionally secured or in the pipeline

The fact

Harworth Group, a UK regeneration and strategic land developer, is in advanced negotiations with several parties over the sale of a second site for hyperscale data-centre development. The undisclosed site is in its existing powered-land portfolio and has planning consent and power connections. Harworth has not disclosed its location, capacity, prospective buyer or transaction timetable.

The talks follow Harworth's £106.6m Skelton Grange land sale to Microsoft in 2024. Harworth says the second opportunity could generate total value gains above those from its first hyperscale transaction. Across its wider portfolio, the company reports 800MW of power connections that are either conditionally secured or in the pipeline, alongside further potential hyperscale, colocation and edge developments.

The assessment

Harworth is moving land further through the development process before selling it. Planning consent and power access can make a site more useful to a data-centre buyer because some of the work needed before construction has already been completed. Harworth can capture value from that preparation without funding or operating the data centre itself.

The 800MW figure is less useful without knowing how far individual sites have progressed. Harworth says the connections are either conditionally secured or still in the pipeline, so they may differ significantly in timing and certainty. For a buyer, the important details are the capacity attached to a site, when that power can be delivered and what conditions remain.

For BTW readers, a second completed sale would provide the first evidence that Harworth can repeat the approach used at Skelton Grange. It would not validate the full 800MW pipeline, which still depends on the status and delivery terms of each connection.

What to watch

Harworth's half-year results on 15 September may show whether the talks have moved beyond advanced negotiations. Buyer identity, sale price, site capacity and connection timing would clarify the site's commercial and power status. A breakdown of the 800MW between conditionally secured and earlier-stage connections would also show how much of Harworth's pipeline has progressed towards sale.