Global digital infrastructure company Equinix has completed the purchase of an 85-acre site in Hertfordshire for the development of a major new data centre campus – its largest-ever UK investment, worth £3.9 billion.

The site will provide more than 250MW of compute capacity, boosting the UK’s critical national infrastructure and supporting industries such as healthcare, life sciences, finance and manufacturing.

Construction is expected to create around 2,500 local jobs, with 200 permanent skilled roles once operational, contributing up to £3bn to the economy during construction and £260 million annually thereafter, according to KPMG estimates.

The California-based firm, which operates over 270 data centres worldwide, plans to power the site entirely with renewable energy, retain more than half the land as open space and deliver a 10% biodiversity net gain.