A major data center development has been proposed on the outskirts of Brisbane, Australia, with plans now submitted to local authorities for a 10-story facility in the Swanbank area of Ipswich, a local government area southwest of Greater Brisbane in Queensland.
Northern Concept Swanb Pty Ltd has filed the development application with the Ipswich City Council, according to the Urban Developer. The proposed site spans 8 hectares at Lot 5 Six Leaf Street, formerly known as Patrick Street, and sits in close proximity to Powerlink Queensland's Blackstone Substation and a planned 200MW battery energy storage system. The vacant land is also part of the broader Swanbank Energy Precinct, which already hosts an operational gas-fired E-Power Station and an existing BESS.
The project is structured in two stages. Stage 1 would deliver a gross floor area of 103,955 square meters, including 80,485 square meters of data hall space. Stage 2 would add another 77,040 square meters of gross floor area, with 56,130 square meters dedicated to data halls. Documents indicate the site could be expanded further under a separate application in the future. City staff have recommended the project for approval, subject to conditions.
The location is strategically chosen for energy access, given its adjacency to critical power infrastructure and the planned battery storage system. This reflects a broader trend in the data center industry where proximity to reliable power sources is becoming a decisive factor in site selection, particularly as AI workloads drive up energy demand across the sector.
However, the proposal has drawn local opposition. A dedicated campaign website, StopDirtyDataDeals, is urging residents to protest the development and press local government representatives for a moratorium on data center projects in the area. Josh Addison, a local campaigner and political candidate who launched the site, voiced concerns in a Facebook post about the project's impact on water and power resources, as well as its potential effect on energy prices. He also criticized the project's approval pathway, arguing it is being pushed through as a code assessable application rather than an impact assessable one, which would carry greater scrutiny. "We get it. The world needs data centers to store our work, run AI and power everything we do online. But that shouldn't mean a trillion-dollar industry gets to exploit weak regulation, steamroll our community and give us no say at all," Addison wrote.
The tension between rapid data center expansion and community concerns over resource use and regulatory oversight is increasingly common in Australia, where the sector is growing quickly to meet demand from cloud and AI services. The outcome of this application could set a precedent for how similar projects are reviewed in the region, particularly in areas with existing energy infrastructure that attract developers seeking reliable power connections.