Work is underway on a multimillion data centre campus in Fife.

It is understood Queensway Park, which is set to become the largest and most energy efficienct data centre in Scotland, has an estimated construction cost of £150 million.

It will be built on the Queensway Business Park in Glenrothes.

Contractors will begin preparatory works this week as parts of the former Tullis Russell paper mill will be demolished.

The project will create 300 construction jobs during the build process and up to 50 full-time posts on completion including technical and operational staff.

Queensway Park will be the first facility of its kind in the UK to draw 100% of its energy from renewable sources.

The campus will also connect to the UK's largest biomass plant and feature high speed carrier neutral data connections stretching to over 7,500 kilometres across the UK with global connection points.

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The project is a joint venture (JV) between Edinburgh-based County Properties Group and AOC Group who are in advanced discussions with Etix Everywhere, an international developer and operator of colocation data centres, to run the facilities and provide technical support.

The campus will have facilities for co-location and dedicated server halls covering some 250,000 sq ft.

Phase one of the campus should be completed and ready within around 18 months, able to accommodate up to 1,000 high performance computing racks.

Queensway Park director Alan O'Connor said: "This is one of the largest and most challenging projects we have been involved in and is the culmination of four years carefully planning every aspect of design and resilience."

Fife Council's Deputy Leader Lesley Laird added: "We are delighted that Fife is set to be the home of Scotland’s largest and most energy efficient data centre campus. Fife is at the forefront of renewable energy and innovation, and this most recent development reinforces our position.

"With over 300 construction jobs being available during the build process and up to 50 full time posts being created on completion, this investment in the Glenrothes area is a positive boost for local jobs and good news for people across Fife."

(LM/MH)