The Opportunities & Availability
Warton Enterprise Zone offers a unique opportunity to locate alongside BAE Systems’ Military Air & Information business which has developed some of the most advanced engineering and manufacturing capability anywhere in the world.
With a rich history of over 100 years of aviation innovation the Warton Enterprise Zone is the only UK private fast-jet testing facility. Innovations at Warton include BAE Systems recent installation of a brand new state-of-the-art cockpit development and training facility. The £2.3m Training and Simulation Integration Facility (TSIF) developed in collaboration with Williams Advanced Engineering contains simulation capabilities for multiple aircraft co-located and connected under one roof.
TSIF forms part of a wider investment in training from BAE Systems which will see the company invest more than £10M in training and simulation facilities at its Warton site.
Although its adjacency to BAE Systems’ operations is key to the Enterprise Zone, the Zone will be a focal point for a broad range of advanced engineering and manufacturing businesses – by no means limited to aerospace.
Other occupiers include global management consultancy, technology and outsourcing giant Accenture and they are joined by worldwide specialists in calibration and asset management services, Trescal, which works with global leaders in industries such as aerospace, automotive and defence.
The presence of BAE Systems has attracted strong regional supply chains in many areas ranging from design, testing and manufacturing, to repair and maintenance.
The Enterprise Zone builds on the Lancashire’s outstanding record of innovation, capabilities, experience and skills – with 30,000 people employed in the aerospace industry. This represents the single largest concentration of aerospace activity in the UK, while North West England is rated as the fourth-largest aerospace cluster globally.
A streamlined planning process will enable building development schemes to get off the ground quicker, making the location more attractive to investors by reducing the complexity and timescales with the planning process, enabling businesses to quickly secure approval for their specific development plans.
Warton has been divided into three Enterprise Zone areas:
- North Enterprise Zone – 39.7ha
- South East Enterprise Zone – 21.3ha
- South West Enterprise Zone –13.5ha
The Warton Enterprise Zone heralds an era of high quality commercial development that will attract global knowledge intensive businesses.
The development of the Enterprise Zone is to be managed and co-ordinated through the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership in association with Landowner BAE Systems.
Phase 1 which comprises 8.5ha areas within the North Enterprise Zone known offers flexible opportunities for a range of unit sizes (B1, B2, B8) for which the Masterplan creates a flexible and deliverable framework that can respond to a variety of development and user demands. As user requirements arise, various development and re-use of existing building opportunities can be provided.
The Warton Enterprise Zone Phase 1 Site will help to deliver world class facilities for advanced engineering and manufacturing ensuring that the objectives of the Enterprise Zone as a national and international focus for these sectors are realised.
The site offers opportunities for companies to locate alongside BAE Systems’ Military Air and Information Division
The western zone can provide industrial type of development and the eastern zone can provide office, research & development and light industrial type development –through refurbishment & redevelopment – this strategy provides for a flexible response to the various sectors that may have an interest in locating on the site.
The southern side of the site includes areas within this zone with existing buildings which have been used for office and training, with refurbishment these would be suitable accommodation particularly for SME’s and business start-ups and they could be available in the short term to interested parties.
The planned creation of attractive, contemporary ‘Gateways’ at access points to the estate and at individual plot entrances will provide a distinctive and recognisable identity for the Enterprise Zone.
