Construction has officially commenced on Datagrid's AI data center campus in Makarewa, north of Invercargill, with the company announcing that horizontal works are now underway on the 49-hectare site. The development marks a significant milestone for what the company describes as New Zealand's largest data center project.

HEB Construction Selected for Initial Works

Datagrid has appointed New Zealand company HEB Construction, a subsidiary of global construction giant VINCI Construction, to carry out the horizontal works phase of the project. The scope of work covers several critical infrastructure tasks that will lay the physical groundwork for the broader campus development.

Among the tasks underway, HEB Construction is building a new access road that will connect the campus directly to State Highway 98. The company is also upgrading existing roading infrastructure in the area and undertaking significant earthworks, including the excavation and reuse of topsoil from within the site itself. That topsoil will be used to construct a six-metre-high bund around the perimeter of the campus.

The bund is intended to meaningfully reduce the campus's visual and noise footprint, which Datagrid characterised as a specific commitment it has made to residents and the broader Makarewa community. The decision to reuse topsoil from the site itself reflects an effort to manage materials efficiently within the project boundaries.

Year-End Completion Target for Foundation Infrastructure

Datagrid has set a timeline for completing foundational platform work by the end of the current year. This includes the foundation platform for the future AI data center facility itself, as well as a cable landing station and a power substation. The completion of these elements is considered a prerequisite for the next phases of the campus build.

The announcement confirms that HEB Construction teams are already on site, signalling that work is progressing against the company's stated project timeline.

 

Ambitions Extend Beyond Scale to Sustainability

Rémi Galasso, CEO of Datagrid New Zealand, framed the project not only in terms of its scale but also its sustainability credentials. In a statement accompanying the announcement, Galasso described the campus as one that aspires to be among the most sustainable data center projects of its scale in the Asia Pacific region.

"Datagrid won't just be the largest data center project in New Zealand, but also one of the most sustainable data center projects of that scale in the Asia Pacific," Galasso said. "We hope to demonstrate that New Zealand has all the ingredients to be a world champion in this industry."


Galasso also credited the partnership with HEB Construction as essential to meeting the company's project timeline, describing the selection as enabling Datagrid to match its ambitious schedule.

Economic and Community Benefit Cited by Construction Partner

Mark Evans, CEO of HEB Construction, welcomed the partnership and spoke to the broader significance of the project for the Southland region. Evans described Datagrid's development as a once-in-a-generation opportunity for New Zealand and expressed confidence in the contribution the project would make to both the local economy and the surrounding community.

"We are proud to be working with Datagrid to bring lasting economic and community benefit to the region," Evans said. "Datagrid's project is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for New Zealand, and I'm pleased we are part of enabling it, with our teams already on site."

The involvement of HEB Construction, a domestically based company despite its international parentage through VINCI Construction, aligns with Datagrid's stated intent to utilise New Zealand partners where possible as the project progresses.

Site Context and Project Scale

The Makarewa campus sits on a 49-hectare plot to the north of Invercargill in Southland. The scale of the site and the breadth of infrastructure planned — including a cable landing station alongside the data center facility and power substation — indicate a project designed to serve significant connectivity and computing demands.

The reference to a cable landing station is notable in the context of the broader South Island connectivity landscape. A separate announcement linked by Datagrid concerns the Tasman Ring Network, which is described as a project intended to supercharge South Island connectivity and improve the resilience of New Zealand's internet infrastructure, though details of that project were not elaborated upon in the Makarewa campus announcement.

The horizontal works phase now underway represents the beginning of physical construction activity on a project that Datagrid has positioned as transformative not just for Southland but for New Zealand's standing in the global data infrastructure industry.

 

With foundation platforms for the core campus facilities expected to be complete before the end of the year, the coming months will be closely watched as the project moves from groundwork into its next stages of development.

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