The City of Edinburgh Council has rejected Shelborn Drummond’s (Shelborn Asset Management) application for a 213 MW green data centre at Redheughs Avenue.

The proposed project, located on a 14.3 acre site at EH12 9RH, comprises two data centre buildings with a maximum floor space of 65,000 sqm each.

In the decision notice, dated February 9, the council cites concerns relating to the climate and greenhouse gas emission.

The council concluded that the project is not considered to be a green data centre as defined by National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) and that ‘there are no material planning considerations which outweigh this conclusion.’

This comes after the City of Edinburgh Council subcommittee advised against the approval of the proposed plans at a meeting on February 4, 2026, as exclusively reported by NPM.

“In summation, I’m going to be proposing that when we go formal, we do reject this application on Place 19 and NPF1 and NPF2,” Cllr Hal Osler said at the subcommittee meeting.

The land previously accommodated an office building known as Drummond House, formerly the Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters, which has since been demolished to facilitate redevelopment.

Approximately one-third of the site remains occupied by an existing car park, alongside a centrally located landscaped green space, which is locally designated open space.

A pre-application enquiry was submitted to the council on November 14, 2024, while an environmental impact assessment (EIA) relating to the proposed development was submitted on July 5, 2025.

*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM Europe subscribers.