Show me the transition funding with "data centre" written on it.

Five miles from Aberdeen, at Blackdog, Ashfield Land and TechRE have consent for the first phase of a multi-gigawatt AI campus. 600MW to start. Three gigawatts of offshore wind on its doorstep. Subsea cables straight to the door.

1,000 construction jobs.

Steven McGarva, the Ashfield Land MD who has spent a decade assembling that site, calls it

a just transition for the region's oil and gas workforce.

He bought the land in 2015, held his nerve through a failed retail scheme and a pandemic, and turned 64 acres into 200 with consent in hand. That's Aberdeen patience. He's right about the transition too.

What Blackdog doesn't have yet is its Blackstone. The anchor capital that turns a plan into a build.

Now watch what that capital just did.

Blackstone walked away from the world's largest data centre project. 2,100 acres in Prince William County, Virginia. 37 buildings planned. Years of lawsuits. A new state energy tax. In May their partner Compass pulled out. On 2 July, Blackstone's QTS followed.

Some will tell you this is private equity calling the top. They'll point to Blackstone selling $3.5 billion of Virginia data centre stakes the same week.

Look closer. That's not an exit from data centres. It's an exit from Virginia.

Because Blackstone-affiliated funds are financing a £10 billion QTS campus at Cambois, near Blyth.