Residents near Auchtertool in Fife, Scotland, are opposing ILI Group's plans for the 600MW Cato data center, which would be built on land containing the ruins of Hallyards Castle, believed to have been inhabited during the reign of King Malcolm Canmore some 1,000 years ago. Historic Environment Scotland declined to grant the castle protected monument status, citing the planning process already being underway; community representative Liam Stewart said the community does not consent to the project. ILI Group submitted plans in June for the 25-hectare development, projecting around £5 billion ($6.71 billion) in investment delivered in phases, with up to seven buildings and an on-site substation. ILI said it would follow Fife Council heritage officers' recommendations and that the stonework would be dismantled, recorded by archaeologists, and reused on site in a publicly accessible setting.
The case illustrates a direct conflict between Scotland's wave of proposed hyperscale data center development and heritage preservation, with Historic Environment Scotland's refusal to intervene setting a precedent that active planning processes can effectively foreclose monument designation. The Scottish Parliament voted last month for a temporary moratorium on new data center developments, and community opposition cases like this one are part of the broader pressure driving that policy response.
The potential destruction of a millennium-old castle for a hyperscale data center is a high-visibility heritage and community opposition story that will draw significant public attention and is entirely distinct from previously published Digest items.