UK operator Era4 has set out more detail on its plan to turn part of a former steel mill in Newport, south Wales, into an AI data centre campus. The first stage, called “The Mill”, is due to come online in 2027 and is based on modular data centre units installed inside an existing industrial building.
What has been announced
According to DatacenterDynamics, which reported the details on 22 October, the project occupies part of a 230-acre site linked to Liberty Steel’s Newport works. Liberty still runs a plant on the wider site, but the building earmarked for the data centre is no longer in use. Era4 intends to keep the site’s original brick chimney as a landmark.
Era4’s website says the campus could eventually reach 1GW and accommodate as many as 400,000 Nvidia Vera Rubin GPUs. Those figures describe a long-term ambition rather than a committed build, and the company has not said how much power will be available when the first stage opens. Era4 says it will rely on a mix of responsibly sourced power under long-term contracts and a closed-loop cooling system to limit water use.
Planning and design
Newport City Council granted change-of-use permission for the scheme in March 2026. The application, reported by DCD in April, showed modular data centre units placed on the first floor of the existing building, with car parking underneath — a layout partly explained by flood risk from the nearby River Usk. The only significant external change listed was new cladding on the outer walls. The application did not state an IT capacity and projected eight full-time jobs.
Newport sits within the South Wales AI Growth Zone, a UK government designation intended to encourage data centre development through incentives and priority access to power.
Context: from Carbon3.ai to Era4
The company launched in 2025 as Carbon3.ai and rebranded as Era4 earlier this year. It has outlined a platform spanning dozens of locations, including a modular AI data centre proposed in Derbyshire and a site in Canterbury, Kent, intended to run on landfill gas; a proposal on Anglesey was rejected. In September 2026 it partnered with UK cloud provider Civo on a sovereign AI cloud service.
Why it matters for modular and edge in Europe
Placing factory-built modules inside an existing shell is one of the quickest ways to bring capacity online on brownfield land. It avoids much of the cost and planning complexity of a new building, keeps heavy construction to a minimum and allows capacity to be added in steps as power becomes available. Former industrial sites also often come with substantial grid infrastructure — a significant advantage in the UK, where new connections can take years.
Era4’s plan is a test of whether that “modules in a shed” approach can scale from a single site towards hyperscale ambitions. The gap between the 2027 first stage and the 1GW headline figure will depend on power availability, financing and customer demand, none of which the company has yet detailed publicly.
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