At a glance
NEXTDC wants to build a 65-metre, 90MW data centre about 50 metres from the entrance of Macquarie Park metro station, on a block City of Ryde says should carry housing.
The proposal reached Sydney radio on 13 August, when Data Centres Australia defended the sector on ABC Radio Sydney.
NEXTDC lodged on 11 July 2024, when a data centre was still a permitted use on the site, and the rezoning for 9,600 homes took effect that November.
Council put four questions to NEXTDC about its 490-job claim in August 2024, and none has a published answer.
NEXTDC's amended plans, lodged a year after the rezoning, cut about 500 square metres from the data halls and added about 850 to the office, retail and innovation hub floors.
A 90MW data centre 50 metres from Macquarie Park metro station
A data centre proposed 50 metres from the entrance of Macquarie Park metro station reached Sydney radio on 13 August. Data Centres Australia chief executive Belinda Dennett was asked on ABC Radio Sydney whether the building serves the city, and answered with the station. "Not many people work in the railway station, but the railway enables a lot of economic activity," she told Mornings host Hamish Macdonald, in quotes transcribed by the Sydney Morning Herald that morning. "And data centres are very much the same thing." City of Ryde, which opposes the proposal, says the block should carry housing.
Behind the argument sits SSD-63168959, covering two connected buildings of up to 65 metres and 47,285 square metres, drawing 90MW, in one of Sydney's largest office precincts.
On siting and process, NEXTDC lodged in July 2024, when a data centre was still a permitted use in the site's zone, and council says a 2024 amendment made the use prohibited there later that year. Macquarie Park is also where its customers and its own S1 and S2 facilities already sit. NEXTDC is more exposed on what the application claims for itself. The company promises approximately 490 full-time roles once the building operates, while the social impact assessment lodged with the same application rates its contribution to activating Macquarie Park as medium-negative.
NEXTDC lodged before the zone changed
NEXTDC lodged its environmental impact statement on 11 July 2024, and the application was open for public comment from 1 to 28 August 2024. Writing on 30 August 2024, City of Ryde described the Stage 1 and 2 rezoning proposals as intending to prohibit data centres in the E2 Commercial Centre zone, the zone this site sits in. The Macquarie Park state-led rezoning took effect on 27 November 2024, with capacity for 9,600 new homes and A$520 million of supporting infrastructure. Council's submission to the NSW parliamentary inquiry into data centres states that the 2024 amendment inserted data centres into the Ryde planning rules as prohibited in that zone.
An application is assessed under the controls in force when it was lodged, so the proposal remains live. The department is now assessing a use its own rezoning prohibits, on a block in a precinct it has designated for housing. NSW has promised 12-month approvals against A$136 billion in data centre proposals while running the housing program that produced the prohibition.
Council's earlier submission puts the site's residential capacity at close to 1,000 dwellings. Its inquiry submission counts five data centres operating in the area with seven more proposed in Macquarie Park, and warns that local stakeholders see the precinct at risk of becoming "a residential dormitory and data centre wasteland".
NEXTDC restated the 490 jobs without answering council's questions
The application promises 942 construction jobs and approximately 490 full-time roles once operating. The social impact assessment inside that same application, as quoted in council's submission, rates the project's contribution to the activation of Macquarie Park as medium-negative, and records that data centres generate low levels of employment once running.
City of Ryde put four questions to the applicant on 30 August 2024: how many people would be employed on site, what the average number on site would be, how many of the 490 would be new positions rather than roles relocated from existing operations, and over what timeframe the 490 would be reached. None of the four has a published answer in the material open for public comment. When NEXTDC lodged its amended plans more than a year later, the documents restated the figure as some 490 new jobs for the Macquarie Park corridor.
The amended plans grew the office floors and trimmed the data halls
NEXTDC uploaded 45 amendment documents to the portal on 21 November 2025, a year after the rezoning took effect. The floor space moved toward the part of the building council had been asking about.
Component | Lodged July 2024 | Amended October 2025 |
|---|---|---|
Technical data hall space | 33,643sqm | 33,142sqm |
Office, retail and innovation hub | 13,292sqm | 14,143sqm |
Total gross floor area | 46,935sqm | 47,285sqm |
Source: NEXTDC environmental impact statement, July 2024, and construction traffic management plan, 10 October 2025.
The height held at 65 metres and the power draw held at 90MW, while the mix inside shifted. NEXTDC plans more than 80MW of IT load at the site, with roughly A$500 million of FY27 capital expenditure against it in its 20 April 2026 ASX presentation.
Data halls still account for 33,142 of the scheme's 47,285 square metres. The floors that could carry 490 roles are the 14,143 square metres of office, retail and innovation hub space, and that is the component the amendments grew.
What to watch
NEXTDC's response to the information request. The portal lists the application as More Information Required following the November 2025 amendments, and no determination date is published.
A published jobs breakdown. Council asked in August 2024 how many of the 490 roles would be new rather than relocated, and over what timeframe they would arrive.
The parliamentary inquiry's report. The NSW Legislative Council inquiry that received Ryde's submission held five hearings between May and July 2026 and has yet to report or publish a reporting date.
NEXTDC's FY26 results. April's guidance had early works on the first 20MW stage commencing by 30 June 2026, and NEXTDC has not published a revised date.