Enviro Business Parks for Hastings
Development company Sea Space has submitted its first planning application for the Enviro21 Innovation Parks - a series of environmentally exemplary business parks which will put the Hastings area on the map.
The Enviro21 Innovation Parks are designed to attract companies from all around the UK in the rapidly-growing environmental technologies and services sector, as well as others which place importance on environmentally sustainable business. They will provide new jobs in the area and add to the local business community.
Sea Space has submitted the first planning application for the first of the Innovation Parks, at the Queensway South site opposite Napier Road. The Queensway South Innovation Park has been designed to meet ambitious environmental targets by award-winning architects RH Partnership in conjunction with sustainability advisors Peter Brett Associates.
 "Artist's impression of Queensway South business park with 9 units and the Innovation Exchange building")
The plans include nine two-storey units of light manufacturing space accompanied by offices, creating a total of 95,000 sq ft of business space. It is also proposed that the Park includes the Innovation Exchange - a conference venue and visitor centre providing meeting rooms, seminar facilities and a restaurant for use by local businesses and residents.
The designs incorporate the latest techniques and materials to maximise natural resources and renewable energy. The buildings are proposed to be naturally lit and ventilated and use green materials. They have been designed to make the most of the sun's energy and to incorporate sustainable drainage systems, brown roofs to encourage biodiversity, a biomass/biofuel boiler to power the site, and a green travel plan.
The wind profile of the site also presents an ideal opportunity for the Park to generate its own electricity using a wind turbine. To investigate the feasibility of its own wind power system further, Sea Space has been granted planning consent to erect a temporary monitoring mast to measure the wind yield potential over a 12 month period.
Sea Space hopes to be able to start the construction of Queensway South in 2008, with completion of the first premises 12 months later.
Keith Sadler, Deputy Director at Sea Space, comments:
"This is an exciting scheme that will put the area firmly on the commercial map. The Enviro21 Innovation Parks will meet high standards of sustainability and attract companies which either want to be beacons of green business or who operate in the fast-growing 'enviro tech' sector. We've undertaken research and it's shown we have an extremely attractive proposition for these firms. Companies are otherwise clearly struggling to attain environmentally sustainable business premises, despite how important they regard this to be."
The submission of a planning application comes at the end of a two-month consultation period during which Sea Space heard views from the area's business community, residents, councillors, council officers, environmental groups and young people.
Sea Space expects to submit further planning applications for the Innovation Centre, an Energy Centre housing a bio fuel boiler, and potentially a wind turbine on the Queensway South site over the next few months. They are also developing plans for additional Enviro21 Innovation Parks, with the next site expected to be at Queensway North, two miles from Queensway South.
Tuesday, 20th November, 2007
