Brookfield-Qai propose £20bn Drax data centre campus
The 1,000-acre Drax Power Station project will be the first by the US-Qatari joint venture, established in December 2025, and is due to come online in North Yorkshire within two years.
A strategic partnership was confirmed between Drax, Brookfield and Radiant, Brookfield’s UK-headquartered AI infrastructure platform, to jointly develop, deliver and operate GW-scale data centre capacity.
Funding will come from the Brookfield-Qai AI infrastructure joint venture. Qai is short for Qatar AI and a subsidiary of Qatar Investment Authority.
Brookfield said total investment in the development could potentially exceed £20bn, including an initial £2.5bn as part of the first phase.
Shares in London-listed Drax rose by 6% to 863p on the news.
Phase one will be targeted at up to 100MW, operational from Q1 2028; phase two to ramp up to 500MW between 2028 and 2031; and phase three additional capacity post 2031.
Progression of the first phase is subject to planning, as well as receiving the required regulatory and network approvals from Government and the system operator, and securing a suitable tenant for the project.
The power station estate comprises 1,000 acres and 4GW of grid access, with 2.6GW of active dispatchable generation and cooling systems.
Brookfield head of AI infrastructure, Sikander Rashid, said: “Teaming up with Drax and Qai for this project represents a major opportunity for our AI infrastructure strategy. Our capital and deep operating capabilities will help accelerate the construction of a critical piece of sovereign AI, delivered by Radiant, our UK-headquartered compute infrastructure platform. In addition to preserving hundreds of jobs, this project will also create many direct and indirect jobs around the broader Yorkshire area.”
Radiant CEO, Mahdi Yahya, said: “We are proud to expand our UK AI compute footprint with Drax. This is a unique opportunity for the UK’s AI ecosystem to build at scale. By designing, building and operating from the UK, it will give British researchers, startups and enterprises access to frontier compute at home. Drax has powered Britain for more than fifty years. Together we can power its AI economy for the next fifty.”
Abdulla Al-Misnad, Qai chairman and managing director, said: “This project is a major initiative under the Brookfield-Qai joint venture and forms part of our international AI infrastructure strategy. Drawing on the combined expertise of Qai and Brookfield in developing and managing large-scale critical infrastructure, and with Radiant and Drax delivering the project, we are helping to establish the infrastructure required to support the long-term growth of the UK’s AI ecosystem.”
