• Address: 23 Tantalum Street, Beard ACT (Block 25 Section 11), with access from Tantalum Street and Copper Close
• Operator: CDC Data Centres, which CDC lists as the lessee of the block
• Site: 47,644 sqm, shared with the Beard 1 building next door
• Building: three storeys, 29,924 sqm of gross floor area, 12 data halls, a footprint of about 10,357 sqm
• Capacity: 84MW
• Cost of works: $203.5 million (reported as about $200 million at lodgement)
• Backup power: emergency on-site generators of up to 20MW combined
• Grid: space reserved for a future substation of about 3,830 sqm at the southern end of the block
• Parking and staff: 23 extra spaces for a campus total of 58, with up to 54 staff on site at any one time across both buildings
• Decision: approved with conditions on 29 September 2026 (DA 202645149)

CDC was founded in Canberra in 2007 and the national capital is still its home base. On the company's own published figures its Canberra campuses are Hume Campus One at 21MW, Hume Campus Two at 51MW and Fyshwick at 45MW, all operating, plus Beard 1 at 39MW. Beard 1 is a two-storey building with 10 data halls and roughly 15,348 sqm of floor space.

Those listed figures add up to 156MW. Beard 2 on its own is bigger than any of them. Once built it would lift CDC's itemised Canberra capacity to about 240MW, which means the 23 Tantalum Street block alone would carry more than half of the company's ACT footprint.

The ACT Government estimated in August that Canberra already has around 15 data centres, with CDC operating the largest share. The demand behind them is tied closely to federal agencies, defence and intelligence work, all of which want secure onshore storage and processing close to Parliament House.

The timeline is worth noting for anyone holding industrial land in the ACT:

• 13 May 2026: the Territory Planning Authority issued an environmental significance opinion with conditions, which meant no full environmental impact statement was required
• 20 August 2026: the development application was lodged by a town planning consultant on CDC's behalf
• 31 August to 18 September: public notification
• 29 September: conditional approval, 11 days after comments closed

The conditions are practical rather than crippling. Before the building operates CDC must lodge its expected water use, the infrastructure serving it and evidence of engagement with Icon Water. It also has to back up its view that the building will not use water on an environmentally significant scale. CDC says its chilled water cooling becomes a closed loop once filled. Other conditions cover generator emissions, noise at the site boundary, fuel storage under the ACT's petroleum guidelines and a plan for known soil contamination before construction starts.

The contrast came on 7 October. CDC had sought an environmental significance opinion for Hume Campus 3, a proposal for four data centre buildings with 24 data halls on a site of about 12 hectares in Hume. Preliminary plans pointed to a combined capacity of 576MW, more than double everything CDC currently lists in Canberra.

The ACT Conservator of Flora and Fauna rejected the application, finding the proposal was likely to have a significant environmental impact. The central problem was clearing the whole site, including 30 trees, 27 of them mature natives. Most of those trees carry hollows the Conservator regards as important habitat for threatened birds, with Gang-gang cockatoos and superb parrots named in the recommendations. Grassland reptile habitat was also flagged.

The Conservator recommended a full environmental impact statement and referral under the Commonwealth EPBC Act. It also told CDC to expect a reduced footprint or scope of works if the project goes ahead. The site falls within the Eastern Broadacre Strategic Assessment area, whose final draft is due to go back to the Commonwealth in 2026/27. Moving early would likely mean offsets, while waiting would mean designing to fit that strategy.

This is not a final refusal. CDC has said the project is at an early stage, that its design will be refined as planning and environmental work continues and that any future proposal will go through the normal assessment process. It has not confirmed whether the original 576MW scheme will proceed.

Both decisions were made under the existing planning system. The ACT Government set out its position on data centres in late August. Data centres cannot be built in residential neighbourhoods and are confined to designated commercial, industrial, transport and services zones plus certain non-urban areas. A draft Data Centre Framework covering preferred locations, assessment criteria and sustainability requirements is due in early 2027.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr has said major proposals should show how they strengthen Canberra's energy system. That matters because the ACT generates very little of its own electricity and relies on the interconnected NSW grid. Consultancy TBH flagged in July that grid congestion, water and competition for land in Hume, Mitchell, Beard and Fyshwick are now the main limits on data centre growth in the territory.

No land price was attached to either decision and CDC already holds the Beard block, so there is no fresh sale figure to point to. The value story is about what the approvals reveal.

First, serviced and already disturbed industrial land has become the scarce commodity. Beard 2 went through quickly because the site sits in an established estate between Copper Close, Nickel Street and Tantalum Street, next to a building CDC already runs, with no habitat trees to remove. Hume Campus 3 stalled for exactly the opposite reasons.

Second, power is the real land value driver. A block that can host a substation or sits near high-voltage infrastructure is worth more to a data centre operator than an otherwise identical block a few streets away. Beard 2 sets aside about 3,830 sqm, roughly 8 per cent of the site, just for a future substation.

Third, the Hume decision will push operators to look harder at smaller, cleaner sites in the established estates. That is good news for owners of large cleared lots in Hume, Beard, Fyshwick and Mitchell, who may find themselves competing with logistics users less often and with data centre buyers more often. Across the border, DCI has also lodged plans for a 25MW facility at Jerrabomberra near Queanbeyan, showing the demand is spilling beyond the ACT line.

For context, the same appetite is playing out nationally. CDC's $15 billion Gregadoo campus near Wagga Wagga, AWS's $20 billion commitment and Goodman's data centre pipeline are all chasing the same thing: land with power, water and planning certainty.

• Know your power position. Find out how close your block is to existing substations and high-voltage lines and whether there is room on site for one. This is now the first question an operator asks.
• Get ahead of the environmental questions. Hume Campus 3 shows that mature trees, hollows and grassland habitat can stop a project before a DA is even lodged. A simple ecological and contamination picture of your site makes it easier to sell.
• Remember the ACT is leasehold. The permitted uses in your Crown lease and the zone matter as much as the land itself. Check whether a data centre or a substation fits before marketing the site that way.
• Present the site the way operators read it. Clear plans showing land area, access, easements and infrastructure on a single page do more work than a generic industrial listing. Buyers in this sector are technical and move quickly when the information is there.
• Watch noise and generator rules. Boundary noise and generator emissions are standard conditions, so neighbouring owners should expect them to be enforced and buyers will factor them in.

• A construction start and completion date for CDC Beard 2 at 23 Tantalum Street, which CDC has not yet published
• CDC's water filing and Icon Water engagement, due before Beard 2 operates
• Whether CDC returns with a smaller Hume Campus 3, goes down the full EIS path or waits for the Eastern Broadacre strategy
• The ACT's draft Data Centre Framework in early 2027, which will map where future campuses can go
• National data centre standards expected to be legislated next year, which will layer federal power and water rules on top of the ACT's

For owners of industrial land in Beard, Hume, Fyshwick and Mitchell, the message is clear. Data centre demand in Canberra is real and growing but it is landing on clean, serviced, well-documented sites. If your block fits that description it is worth knowing what it could be worth to this kind of buyer.