The Aerohub Business Park at Cornwall Airport Newquay has announced its first occupier in a deal that is expected to create more than 20 jobs.
Cool In Steel (CIS), which specialises in providing pre-fabricated buildings mainly for commercial and educational uses, is building a manufacturing facility to launch its PreCISion Homes brand, offering steel-framed off-site homes for the affordable housing market.
The Aerohub Business Park is located on the south side of the airport and is within the Enterprise Zone being delivered jointly by Cornwall Council and the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
The park includes 13 fully-serviced plots on Cornwall Council-owned land following a £6.3 million infrastructure investment from the ERDF Convergence Programme and the Homes and Communities Agency. Once fully developed it could support up to 1,000 jobs.
CIS has bought a long lease from Cornwall Council on plot 12 of the park. The business established its base on the north side of the airport in November 2013, but the relocation to the Aerohub Business Park will accelerate its growth as a manufacturer in its own right, and see the launch of the PreCISion Homes brand.
CIS managing director, Andrew Sangster, said: “The project will create four jobs in the first phase but this will increase to more than 20 once we have the manufacturing facility on site.
“Our vision is to change the face of the construction industry by providing high quality buildings as quickly and cost effectively as possible. Our new modular housing designs deliver a lower cost, high-quality solution to affordable housing delivery and Aerohub Business Park provides the perfect launchpad for our next phase of growth in UK, European and African markets.”
Gavin Poole, chairman of the Aerohub and Enterprise Zone Board, and a main board member of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP, said: “CIS is a top quality business serving household names around the world from Cornwall. This expansion provides another example of how innovative businesses can thrive in Cornwall.”
The CIS announcement follows recent news that £4.3 million of funding has been secured from European Regional Development Fund to build the first phase of office and light industrial buildings on the Aerohub Business Park. This has been matched by £3.1 million from Cornwall Council, with work starting later this year.
The Aerohub Enterprise Zone was launched five years ago following a successful bid to Government by the LEP. It is covered by two local development orders which means it can accommodate 200,000 sq meters of new buildings without the need for planning permission.
Aerohub is now home to 14 businesses employing over 450 people at an average annual wage of £33,400, almost twice the average wage in Cornwall.
In April 2016, the Enterprise Zone was extended to include Goonhilly Earth Station – a key national asset with ambitions to become a Space Science Centre alongside commercial operations and a new space sector cluster in Cornwall.
Aerohub is also the only site in England on the list to become a UK Spaceport. The requirements for a spaceport licence are expected to be published by Government and the UK Space Agency in the coming months.
