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 studios 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, including 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.”