Work is set to start this month on the first commercial offices to be built on the £400m Locking Parklands scheme – the site of the former RAF Locking just outside Weston-super-Mare.
The 6,000 sq ft of office space, due for completion this autumn, will comprise three individual units and will create about 60 jobs. They will eventually form part of a total of 650,000 sq ft of employment space which is expected to create 2,000 jobs.
Regeneration specialist St Modwen is currently building 150 homes on the site and is expected to lodge today or tomorrow a planning application for consent to build a further 150 homes as the next phase of a development of 1,250 houses over the next 20 years.
St. Modwen Homes has sold more than 50% of properties now being built. They are described as a collection of individually designed luxury apartments and houses which benefit from the traditional village design of the development.
Locking Parklands is one of the first housing developments in the UK by St. Modwen Homes and it is being delivered in partnership with the Government’s Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).
Planning consent has also been given elsewhere on the Locking site for a £50m Leisuredome, one of the largest leisure development schemes in the UK. It will feature a 210 metre ski slope, the longest in Brtiain, and an indoor climbing centre with a 40 metre climbing wall, the tallest in the world, alongside an indoor surfing centre and sky-diving facility. It will also support the local community with fitness and meeting facilities, including a children’s centre, BMX skateboard park and gymnasium.
