THIS aerial photograph shows how Bournemouth’s Lansdowne is changing with ongoing construction.

Bournemouth council’s planning framework sees the area as a key employment site, prioritising construction of offices, as well as new university buildings and student accommodation.

Major schemes include the £30 million Bournemouth Gateway Building under construction by the St Paul’s roundabout.

This seven storey building will house teaching facilities for Bournemouth University’s faculty of health and social sciences, training midwives, paramedics and other health professionals.

The Gateway project includes a 14-storey block of student flats, and developer Watkin Jones Group is already constructing three large blocks in the area, with some 930 flats, office space and university teaching space.

One in Holdenhurst Road will be 19 storeys high, while a 16 storey block of student flats is due to be constructed by another developer in neighbouring Oxford Road.

Today, the council planning board is due to consider plans for a seven storey block of 206 student flats on the site of Hendy House in Christchurch Road. Officers are recommending approval.

Lansdowne is also the target area for what could be the UK’s first 5G network, in place by 2020.

The borough has in recent months been the test bed for a mapping tool developed alongside Ordnance Survey. The council also plans to investigate the possibility of driverless transport in the Lansdowne area, but says the idea is “at a very early stage”.

Earlier this year, when a report showed analysts expect the Bournemouth economy to grow by 1.5 per cent this year, putting it at number 10 in a national league table, Councillor Philip Broadhead, cabinet member for economic growth, said the Lansdowne was a major focus for growth.

“Securing employment for both now and the next generation is a huge focus for us at the moment, and it’s clear that central government have faith in us, with the large multi-million pound grants we have secured for key employment sites such as the Lansdowne and Wessex Fields as two good examples,” he said.

“Key growth areas include the financial services sector and of course the digital economy.”