WORK to create 20 employment units at a new ‘engineering excellence’ business park is due to be completed this autumn.

The development, which has been named Dorset Innovation Park, will see around 2,000 jobs created in what is set to be a major economy boost for Dorset.

The £2.5m project at the Dorset Enterprise Zone at Winfrith will attract dozens of new businesses in the marine, defence and energy sectors to the area.

It marks the first new-build development at the former Winfrith atomic energy site for more than 20 years.

The site already hosts two world leaders in defence technology – QinetiQ and Atlas Elektronik UK – and will now become a “major focus for the economic regeneration of South Dorset and a vital stimulus for employment”, says the Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

The scheme, one of 12 new enterprise zones launched in the UK, is a joint partnership between Dorset LEP, Purbeck District Council and Dorset County Council to create a ‘new cluster of excellence’ in advanced engineering for the South West.

The first phase of development to provide 20 new workshop units is due for completion in October.

Called the Quadrant, the development will comprise two facing terraces of fully-serviced units, together with on-site parking.

Businesses locating to the site will be able to benefit from up to five years of business rate reductions and access to ultrafast broadband.

Dorset Innovation Park accommodates a total of 56 hectares of employment land. It follows major public sector redevelopment of the former Dorset Green Technology Park by councils and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), which stepped in after the previous leaseholders went into receivership.

Having invested £1.5m to get the site ready for development, the HCA transferred the site to the local councils which, along with Dorset LEP, have taken forward the delivery of the enterprise zone.

Enterprise zones are part of the government’s strategy to help businesses grow. Hosted by LEPs, they provide commercial and industrial businesses with incentives to set up or expand.