Plans Unveiled for Inverness Airport Business Park

28th February 2008

Plans for the largest business park development in the Highlands are on public display

Inverness Airport Business Park Limited is staging a public exhibition in Inverness Airport terminal before submitting a planning application for its 250 hectare site to The Highland Council in March.

It is estimated that the first phase of development to 2021 on the IABP site adjacent to the A96 trunk road east of the City of Inverness could create around 70,000 square metres of business accommodation, including an airport hotel, supporting hundreds of new jobs.

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 was one of the major developments considered as part of the council's A96 corridor master plan which was developed over recent years and endorsed by the council at the end of last year. It is also an allocated site within the adopted Inverness Local Plan 2006.

A major master planning exercise for the site has now been completed by MAKE Architects and this has formed the basis for an outline planning application.

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, science park, light industrial, logistics/freight and hotel and conferencing uses in carefully landscaped surroundings.

It is anticipated that some 350,000 square metres of accommodation could be developed on the site over 50 years, supporting over 10,000 full-time equivalent jobs.

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.

"We are now offering interested parties the opportunity to view our proposals and will be submitting an outline planning application in early March," he said.

The IABP exhibition will run within Inverness Airport terminal from 27 February until 7 March. The terminal is open to the public from 0500 - 2200 Monday to Friday, 0500 - 1930 Saturday and 0700 - 2200 on Sunday.