Datagrid begins work on Southland site, completion expected this year

The company behind plans for the country's largest data centre says building work begins Tuesday on the 49ha site in Makarewa, north of Invercargill.

Singapore-based Datagrid said the start of the "horizontal works" marked a major milestone in the project. It said New Zealand company HEB Construction - a subsidiary of international firm, VINCI Construction - had been contracted to carry out the work.

Datagrid said the works included a new access road connecting the data centre campus to State Highway 98 and upgrading existing roads.

Topsoil on the data centre site would be excavated and used to create a six-metre-high bund, which the company said would help shield the local community from construction noise.