Urban Digest

A $630.4 million data centre has been approved at 1–5 Khartoum Road, Macquarie Park, adding a new 10-storey, 49 MW facility to the rapidly expanding data centre cluster surrounding Talavera and Khartoum roads.

The State Significant Development application by Stockland Development Pty Ltd was determined on 1 October 2026 and allows for the construction and 24-hour operation of the facility, which will reach a maximum height of 72.8 metres.

The development will contain eight data halls across four technical data floors, with a total IT load of 34.3 MW. Levels 1 to 4 will each accommodate two data halls, while upper levels will contain electrical infrastructure, backup generation, battery storage, transformers and cooling plant.

Across the 8,096 sqm site, the project proposes 13,307 sqm of gross floor area, including 6,572 sqm of data hall and technical floor space, 5,857 sqm of lobby and ancillary areas and 878 sqm of offices. This equates to an FSR of approximately 1.64:1.

The centre will have a maximum total power capacity of 49 MW and will be supported by 19 diesel backup generators comprising eighteen 3 MW units and one 1 MW unit. Six above-ground diesel tanks will provide 450 kilolitres of fuel storage, while six industrial water tanks will provide a combined 2,700 kilolitres of capacity. Around 225 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries are also proposed.

The development is expected to operate continuously and consume around 2,018 kilolitres of water per day. Construction is expected to take approximately 30 months and support up to 250 full-time equivalent construction jobs, with a further 50 operational jobs once complete.

The Department received five public submissions during exhibition, including three objections, one submission in support and one comment. Concerns included operational noise, air pollution, energy and water consumption, and the suitability of locating large data centres close to public transport and future residential development.

Air quality emerged as one of the key assessment issues. Initial modelling identified potential nitrogen dioxide exceedances at three future residential receivers during generator testing. Subsequent computational fluid dynamics modelling and additional mitigation measures found those exceedances were unlikely, although modelling of an extended emergency outage identified potential exceedances under a low-probability scenario. Conditions require an Air Quality Management Plan and neighbour notification procedures during power outages.

The site sits within an increasingly concentrated Macquarie Park data centre precinct. Stockland also secured approval in March 2026 for a separate 76.4 MW data centre immediately north-west of the site, while other existing and approved facilities are located along Khartoum and Talavera roads.

The Environmental Impact Statement was prepared by Urbis. The Department concluded the project would not result in significant environmental or amenity impacts subject to conditions and determined the application on 1 October 2026.

For more information, search application SSD-80814238 on the NSW Planning Portal.