Inverness Airport : Development Proposal

Images / information from make 18 Mar 2008 Plans Unveiled for Inverness Airport Business Park A masterplan by Make architects for the largest business park development in the Highlands of Scotland is about to be submitted to The Highland Council for outline planning consent by Inverness Airport Business Park Limited. Over 350,000 square metres of accommodation could be developed on the 250 hectare site, adjacent to Inverness Airport and the proposed new town of Tornagrain, over the next 50 years. IABP Ltd is a joint venture company formed by Moray Estates Development Company, Highlands and Islands Airports, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and with support from The Highland Council. IABP Ltd. selected Make in November 2006 to develop a brief and masterplan for the business park following a limited competition. The overall site strategy for the masterplan uses the landscape as the driver for development and a mechanism to link across the site between the various development zones. Strategic structural tree planting has been proposed to form connections, creating green buffers which will act as wildlife corridors and recreational routes, as well as rooting the business park in its natural setting. Ewan Anderson, Partner at Make, describes their design approach to the masterplan; “We have taken an holistic approach to the design, integrating the proposals fully with the adjacent development plans for the expansion of Inverness Airport and proposals for the new town of Tornagrain. The masterplan aims to create a world class business location, comprised of mixed use and sustainable development within a robust development framework that is carefully nestled within the natural landscape.” The project has a key role to play in attracting inward investment to the area and enabling local business expansion on the A96 corridor between Inverness and Nairn. The development will provide quality business accommodation in a high amenity environment with good transport links. The park will include a mixed development of accommodation for business/research park, light industrial, logistics/freight and hotel and conferencing uses in carefully landscaped surroundings. Alan Price, chairman of IABP said: “Similar projects have been successfully developed at other major regional airports and we firmly believe that Inverness Airport Business Park will bring significant benefits to our area to support economic and social development in the region. “The Inner Moray Firth is seeing population growth and is a unique location for inward investors due to the quality of life and skills offered here. Equally, Inverness itself is now very constrained in terms of commercial land so IABP will be critical to enabling business growth in the years ahead.” Inverness Airport Business Park masterplanners : Make Photos / information from make, 250107: Inverness Airport Business Park Appoints Master Planners A leading firm of UK architects has been appointed to carry out the master planning for the first phase of development for the north of Scotland’s largest business park development. Inverness Airport Business Park Limited (IABP) has appointed Make as master planners for its 250 hectare business park site adjacent to the largest airport in the Highlands of Scotland. The appointment was made following a competitive tendering process that attracted bids from almost 40 leading UK and international architectural practices. The IABP joint venture company intends to develop the 250 hectare site as a high amenity business park over the next 30 years with scope to accommodate up to 5,000 jobs in a mixture of office, science park, light industrial, freight and aviation-related developments. Make was founded in 2004 by Ken Shuttleworth, a former partner at Fosters & Partners. The practice has already established itself as one of the UK’s foremost architectural firms, with over 100 employees based in London, Edinburgh and Birmingham. The IABP project is being run from the Edinburgh studio, which has been established for almost two years. Make’s other projects in Scotland currently include a master plan and three office buildings at Broomielaw in Glasgow for Gladedale Capital Ltd, The Scottish Business School, a mixed use development for Duddingston House Properties at Westfield in Edinburgh, the master plan for Waterfront Edinburgh Limited and the Ross Bandstand in Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh. The IABP joint venture, established in 2005, comprises Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL), HIE Inverness & East Highland and Moray Estates Development Company. The Highland Council is a shareholder through its provision of loan stock for the construction of the £4 million Inverness Airport Way link road between the airport and A96 which opened in 2006. IABP offers high quality development opportunities located at the heart of one of the UK’s fastest growing regional economies. Located seven miles to the north-east of the City of Inverness, next to the airport and immediately north of the main A96 trunk road and Inverness-Aberdeen railway line, the site is at the centre of a major transport hub. Plans to develop a passenger rail halt and park and ride facility serving the airport and business park are already being progressed by the regional transport partnership HITRANS with support from HIAL, HIE IEH and IABP. The strategically important location forms an integral part of wider development plans for the A96 corridor and Inner Moray Firth, including trunk road upgrades and major new community developments. IABP is supported by the local planning authority and regional economic development agency and conforms to the strategic development plan and priorities for the area. The site’s scope encompasses a mixed development of hotel and conferencing, business, office, light industrial, freight and aviation-related uses in carefully landscaped surroundings. The first phase of development on IABP is forecast to include the creation of 16,500m2 of business accommodation, incorporating an airport hotel. Around 260,000m2 of accommodation could be developed on the site over 30 years. The IABP design will be developed to integrate with the proposed new town of Tornagrain and the expansion plans for Inverness Airport. Make will be developing the master plan proposals towards an outline planning application to the local planning authority in the summer of 2007. Alan Price, Chairman of IABP said: “The business park is an extremely important development for the region both for enabling local business growth and attracting inward investment. We are therefore very focused on ensuring it provides a high quality environment that will actively attract business investment to the area over the next 30 years. We are confident that Make will ensure this is the case through its master planning which will shape the first phase of development on the site.” Ewan Anderson at Make’s Edinburgh studio said: “IABP is an amazing opportunity to create a world class business location in one of Scotland’s most attractive and vibrant regions. We will be taking an holistic approach which seeks to integrate the IABP with the surrounding landscape, the airport, and the new town of Tornagrain to create a sustainable new community. This is an exciting project and we are delighted to be involved from this early stage.” Inverness Airport Business Park - information from make 250107 Airport Architecture Barcelona Airport Copenhagen Airport Edinburgh Airport Glasgow Airport Hong Kong Airport Paris Airport Stansted Airport Inverness Buildings