Plans have been submitted by Rigby Real Estate to extend the Aviation Business Park across Bournemouth Airport’s northern sector as part of a multiphase development masterplanned by leading architectural practice Stephen George + Partners (SGP). If approved by the newly formed Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (BCP), the plans will deliver more than a million square feet of new commercial floor space over approximately 30 hectare of land. As well as creating an estimated 1,900 full-time jobs, the proposed development will generate about £93 million annually for the Dorset economy.
Ian Yallop, SGP Chairman, said: “Our masterplan design proposes a high-quality business park based on good sustainable principles. Quality, consistency and colour palette are all key factors in the scheme, creating a development which will attract high-quality businesses and employers, generate new employment opportunities and further promote East Dorset as a strong employment location. The scale of the scheme will allow for a range of business sizes, thus providing a sustainable and holistic development that complements the existing and future proposals for the area.”
SGP’s design presents a cohesive solution that will create a new identity for the business park, linking and extending built form. Detailing and material selection will be carefully coordinated to provide an attractive holistic park. This is seen as a key factor in creating a distinctive and high-quality employment park that will attract inward investment, whilst retaining expansion capacity for local business.
It is envisioned that the site will be able to accommodate units ranging in size from around 2,300sq m to 42,000sq m (25,000sq ft to 450,000sq ft), mainly industrial and warehousing with ancillary office space and hangar space, catering for both airside and non-airside uses. The range of unit sizes has been carefully judged to complement existing and proposed future land uses in and around the area and to meet the increasingly high quality requirements on the park.
A distinctive feature of the masterplan is the new ‘link road’ through the site which gives opportunities to enhance and link pedestrian and cycle routes to proposed units whilst creating a strong, legible highway structure. Planting along the link road will be carefully chosen to minimise the impact on the development and boost local ecology.
Landscape boundaries to the site will not only provide screening, but also present opportunities for biodiversity, ecological mitigation and a buffer between the development and a nearby Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
Mike Murray, Commercial Real Estate Director for Rigby Real Estate, commented: “We’re very excited at these plans which are part of our strategy to create a world-class business park at Bournemouth Airport.
The aim is to unlock high-quality employment land and facilitate associated infrastructure while providing a major boost for the local economy. Our objective is to appeal to leading national and international manufacturing, logistics and aerospace businesses with a range of high-quality, class-leading units.”
