Bell and government officials marked construction progress on the Bell AI Data Centre in the RM of Sherwood, Sask. on Thursday, while also announcing a $1 million investment to support mental health in the province. Preparations are currently underway for the first building’s interior fit out. According to the province, structural steel is rising and all four buildings in the first phase are taking shape. There are more than 500 people working on the site, with the majority of the project’s workforce from Saskatchewan. The province says more than 30 contractors, consultants, suppliers and Indigenous partners are contributing to the 300-megawatt Bell AI Fabric Data Centre. With construction for the site first beginning in late April, Harrison said the progress has been remarkable. “We have an amazing thing going on here behind us, the largest private sector capital investment in the history of the country at full build out which will mean of the three largest investments in Canadian history, two of them will be in Saskatchewan,” Crown Investments Minister Jeremy Harrison said on Thursday at the announcement. Harrison credited the local contractors, suppliers and Indigenous partners for their contribution to development of the project so far. “The provincial impact of this is hard to actually wrap your head around. This is going to comprise 800 to 1,200 jobs in construction at any given point for years into the future,” he said. “Four or five years as we go through the construction part of this, 500 permanent operations jobs. In addition to that, the relocation of the Bell AI fabric headquarters to Regina is really something that I think is going to be of enormous importance as we move forward in building AI and data ecosystem in in this province.” John Watson, the group president of the Bell Cyber and AI Fabric and others joined the minister at the announcement on Thursday. The first portion of the centre, dubbed a “data hall,” is expected to become operational in the first half of 2027. “Our commitment to our customers is to have the first two buildings set up and ready to go, and that is that is an extraordinary timeline,” Watson told reporters Thursday morning. “It’s facilitated by the amazing trades we’ve got here, the commitment and work ethic that we’ve seen. The pace of development here is absolutely extraordinary.” The project is expected to bring a total estimated capital investment of more than $50 billion. Mental health investment Since Bell’s presence in the province continues to grow, they also announced the investment of $1 million to support mental health in Saskatchewan, with more information to come at a later time. More details to come… CTV News, CP24 and BNN Bloomberg are divisions of Bell Media, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of BCE Inc.
