Bournemouth: Airport business park expansion 'creates 1,900 jobs'

Plans have been unveiled to create up to 1,900 jobs by extending Bournemouth Airport’s business park. Rigby Real Estate has submitted three planning applications for land at the Aviation Business Park across the airport’s northern sector.

If approved, the plans will deliver more than 1 million sq ft of new commercial floor space over approximately 75 acres of land.

As well as creating up to 1,900 full-time jobs, the proposed development will generate about £93 million annually for the Dorset economy.

Mike Murray, Rigby Real Estate’s commercial real estate director, said: “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.” 

The three planning applications submitted to the newly formed Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (BCP) are:

• An outline planning application for employment development in a broad area of land across the northern fringe of the airport. It includes an estate road as the primary means of vehicular access.
• Full planning application for road improvements and other infrastructure including the access arrangement proposed in the outline application. The road link is considered essential to opening up the site and linking the west and east sides of the business park, currently separated by airside users. It will be implemented quickly as an early phase of the proposed development.
• A full planning application for an employment unit, allowing for the relocation of a long-standing manufacturing company to the site. This will allow for the retention and expansion of the company’s highly skilled operation while also enabling the release of its former site for alternative residential development.

Aviation Business Park, which covers 200 acres, is already home to more than 200 businesses and is one of the largest employment sites in Dorset.

It has a strong reputation as a key specialist aerospace and manufacturing hub for companies looking for bespoke and high specification facilities. 

Rigby Real Estate acquired the Aviation Business Park in 2017 when Rigby Group’s airport management division Regional & City Airports (RCA) added Bournemouth Airport to its extensive group of regional UK airports for an undisclosed sum.