Stockland plans 170MW Wetherill Park data centre worth A$2.25bn

At a glance

• Stockland asked the NSW planning department on 4 November 2026 to set the assessment requirements for a data centre at 2 Davis Road, Wetherill Park.

• The plan is a four-storey building with 20 data halls, 170MW of IT load and a capital cost of A$2.25 billion.

• It is one of three Stockland data centre projects in the NSW Investment Delivery Authority's fast-track process.

• An on-site 330kV substation would connect to Transgrid's Holroyd terminal station, about 700m away.

• Stockland's scoping report puts the work at 800 construction roles and 108 operating roles, with building from April 2028 to January 2031.

Stockland has lodged a A$2.25 billion plan for a data centre at 2 Davis Road, Wetherill Park, in western Sydney. Its request of 4 November asks the NSW planning department to set the study requirements.

Stockland's scoping report puts total site load at about 250 MVA, against a target IT load of 170MW. The planning portal lists about 238MW of total capacity. The four-storey building would stand 45m high including plant, with 38,091 square metres of floor area and four data hall levels 8.25m apart, floor to floor. Gensler drew the building plans, and the connection route drawing is credited to WSP.

The department now prepares the Secretary's Environmental Assessment Requirements (SEARs), the list of studies Stockland's environmental impact statement must contain before the plan goes on public exhibition.

Wetherill Park is one of three Stockland sites in the NSW fast-track

Stockland describes itself as "one of Australia's largest diversified property groups" in its first-quarter update to the ASX on 19 October. The update lists a A$10.4 billion investment platform weighted to logistics and retail, and about 450MW of power secured for data centres.

The secured power covers MPark Stage 2 in Macquarie Park, and the Cherry Lane and Brooklyn sites in Melbourne. In October, Stockland won consent for its Road 1 data centre at MPark Stage 2. It lists four more sites in its pipeline, and the NSW Investment Delivery Authority (IDA) has endorsed three of them: Wetherill Park, Kemps Creek and a second Macquarie Park site.

In March, Stockland and EdgeConneX finalised a 50/50 partnership to develop, own and operate data centres across Australia. Stockland's FY26 results deck says the venture focuses on "large-scale sites suited to hyperscaler customers" and targets long-term leases, with Stockland's land sold into it at market value. Stockland expects data centre operations to generate development earnings in FY27.

Chief executive Tarun Gupta set out the approach at the annual general meeting on 19 October. He described "maximising the value of existing Logistics assets through conversion to Data Centres". The first-quarter update lists Wetherill Park as a 100 per cent owned logistics asset with "AI/Hyperscaler" as the target customer.

The IDA endorsed the site on 27 March 2026 as one of 15 data centre projects. The same review did not endorse about A$40.7 billion of data centre and technology proposals it considered premature or overly speculative. We covered that group when the Lane Cove bid became the first to withdraw.

The data centre would employ about 108 staff at Wetherill Park

The report puts the project at about 800 construction roles, with about 400 workers on site at the peak. Operations would employ about 108 full-time equivalent staff, with no more than 36 on site at once across eight-hour shifts. The report says the project will promote apprenticeships and traineeships where feasible, and engage local suppliers that prefabricate electrical and mechanical systems.

Fairfield City Council has named local employment and economic benefits as a matter of interest, along with heavy vehicle traffic, road connections and landscaping. Stockland met the council on 21 September. It has met the IDA, the planning department and Transport for NSW since April.

Stockland bought the 2 Davis Road warehouse in April 2003, according to its property portfolio. A 2021 approval changed the 1980s building's use from bottle manufacturing to a warehouse and distribution centre for timber storage, the scoping report says. The land is zoned E4 General Industrial.

Freight Specialists and Stora Enso Australia lease the 16,112 square metre building, according to Stockland. Both leases run to 16 June 2030, and Freight Specialists has relinquished its renewal option, according to the report. The report's indicative program starts construction in April 2028.

The nearest homes are in Greystanes and Wetherill Park, about 1.3km away, as is the TAFE NSW Wetherill Park campus. Engagement is planned for the first quarter of 2027 across about 1,982 nearby addresses. The program proposes door knocking, an online survey, a 1800 contact line and an online information session.

Next door, the Davis Road Data Centre at 3 Davis Road, shown on our Sydney map as Project Blue Tongue, was approved on 20 December 2024. The department's assessment report records no public submissions on that project, and Fairfield City Council did not object. Cundall holds that consent. In January 2025 the engineering firm told the department that "AWS would like to notify the Department" of "our intention to commence construction" on 13 February 2025.

The scoping report lists 21 matters for the environmental study

The department decided after early talks that Wetherill Park needs project-specific SEARs, so Stockland lodged a scoping report. The Davis Road project next door received the department's industry-specific data centre SEARs in 2023. The Wetherill Park report names 21 matters the environmental impact statement will assess.

They include noise and vibration under the NSW Noise Policy for Industry, with night-time operation treated as the most sensitive case. Air quality covers the backup generators and their testing schedule. A dangerous goods report addresses hazards. Greenhouse gases are assessed under the NSW EPA's Guide for Large Emitters. The report flags Castlereagh Ironbark Forest vegetation, part of the critically endangered Cumberland Plain Woodland, for a biodiversity assessment.

Flooding and heritage need no further assessment, according to the report. Two registered Aboriginal heritage items lie 350m and 400m from the site, and Stockland plans to engage the local Aboriginal land council through the cultural heritage process.

The department set amended SEARs on 15 September for Stockland's Kemps Creek project, the Aldington Road Data Centre, with up to 360MW of IT load. They require Stockland to show a PUE of 1.3 or less, equivalent to a five-star NABERS rating. Operational demand must be matched with NSW renewable supply at all times. Stockland must also model noise and air quality for an unplanned outage and prepare a health impact assessment.

Transgrid's Holroyd station supplies the power

The plan connects the site to Transgrid's Holroyd terminal station, roughly 700m to the north-east. On site, it includes a 330kV substation and two 33kV switch rooms. A 330kV double-circuit transmission tower already stands at the site's north-west corner, and a 30.48m-wide Transgrid easement runs along its northern edge.

The cable route runs along Davis Road and across the Liverpool-Parramatta Transitway, so the report assumes about 1.5km of twin 330kV cables. Stockland needs consent from Transgrid and its connections business Lumea, and has met Lumea weekly since May 2025. Transport for NSW must also consent to the Transitway crossing. Stockland is working with Transgrid on cutting the site's grid demand at peak times, according to the report.

The report's load forecast rises from 55 MVA in the first quarter of 2029 to 250 MVA in the first quarter of 2031, in five steps about six months apart. Building work runs from April 2028 to January 2031.

AirTrunk SYD1 and AirTrunk SYD3 are about 5.4km and 5.7km away, by our measure from the filed coordinates. Telstra, Optus, TPG, Vocus, NBN Co and FiberSense have network services near or within the site, according to the report. Our guide to Western Sydney covers the wider cluster.

The dry-cooled design targets a PUE of 1.35 to 1.4

Stockland plans "fully dry, air-cooled chillers" with no evaporative cooling or routine water use. Mains water serves the office and fire systems only, and Stockland is exploring recycled water with Sydney Water and Conexa.

The design PUE is 1.35 to 1.4. The NSW data centre guidelines of 17 August 2026 allow a design PUE of up to 1.3 for a site with very low water use. The report says the design "exceeds the target dPUE by 0.05" and argues it is acceptable because the building uses no water for cooling. At Kemps Creek, the SEARs require a PUE of 1.3 or less and a separate water target.

What to watch

• The SEARs. The NSW data centre guidelines commit the government to issuing SEARs within two months. They will show whether the department holds Wetherill Park to the 1.3 PUE it set at Kemps Creek. The SEARs expire if Stockland does not lodge its environmental impact statement within two years.

• Community engagement. Engagement with surrounding landowners and businesses is planned for the first quarter of 2027.

• An operator. Whether Stockland places the site in its EdgeConneX partnership or names a hyperscale tenant.