New Forest District Council (NFDC) has officially opened a new £9.5m business park in Ringwood, Hampshire as part of its investment in the local economy.
The business park with 16 light industrial units and two office buildings, is now home to several businesses including a supplier of metal finishing machinery, a social media agency, a healthcare technology company and a swimming pool company.
NFDC already has agreements with tenants for 64% of the available space.
Cllr Jeremy Heron, NFDC’s Portfolio Holder for Finance and Corporate, said: “This is our biggest investment and our first business park. As part of the council’s investment strategy, we bought the land in Ringwood in 2019 for £2.1m. After a pause due to Covid restrictions, construction and development took around 15 months.
“We are very pleased to be able to welcome our first tenants to the business park, with a wide range of activities represented. As the park reaches full occupancy, we expect that over 150 jobs will be supported and these businesses will contribute towards strong economic benefit and growth to Ringwood and the wider district.”
On Wednesday 19th July, Cllr Neville Penman, Chairman of the Council, cut a ribbon and opened the development, which was named ‘Platinum Jubilee Business Park’ to honour Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.
Guests were given a site tour, including seeing the inside and facilities in three units. The tour also highlighted the environmental considerations made as part of the development, which has gained a ‘BREEAM very good’ accreditation for sustainability.
Solar panels were incorporated into the development, providing an average of 4kW of electricity per unit and an estimated annual carbon saving of over 13 tonnes for the estate. There are electric vehicle charging provision for all units, and around 1,500 heavy goods vehicle movements were also saved by re-using excavated materials onsite.
GE Machinery Limited, moved into the business park in June 2023. Nichola Nelson, Director at GE Machinery Limited, said: “We like having NFDC as a landlord as feel we’ll be treated fairly. We’re a newly established company in a position to open a showroom. Being New Forest residents, the location of the Platinum Jubilee Business Park is perfect for our travel time, the solar panels added onto the units are a bonus and it’s great to have our own clean and tidy premises.”
The construction of the site supported the community through employing local people.
Matt Leather, a civil engineer who lives within a short walk of the business park and worked on the construction, said: “I grew up round this area and it has saved time and fuel working so close by. It has been great to work on something so local.”
Looking to the future, Cllr Jeremy Heron commented on NFDC’s next investment: “Our next large-scale investment is the new operational depot to be constructed at Hardley industrial estate. This £7.8M development is being built to replace Claymeadow depot in Totton which will soon be no longer suitable for the needs of an improving service.
“Offices, workshop and storage space will be built, and house vehicles for refuse and recycling collections. We look forward to starting work on this development later this year to deliver the benefits of a new depot in line with the Council’s waste strategy.”
Header image shows from left to right: Cllr Jill Cleary, Cllr Neville Penman and Cllr Jeremy Heron.
