BREAKING NEWS: Manston airport SOLD | Thanet Gazette
Manston airport has been sold to the firm behind the Discovery Park at Richborough it has just been announced - apparently ending hopes that it will reopen as an airport.
Trevor Cartner and Chris Musgrave have bought a majority interest in the 800-acre site from owner Ann Gloag.
The partnership has experience of large-scale regeneration projects and is part of the Discovery Park consortium at the former Pfizer facility in Sandwich.
The new owners envisage a £1 billion redevelopment of the 800-acre site, over a 20-years into a mixed-use scheme which they claim will help to create more than 4,000 jobs.
Trevor Cartner and Chris Musgrave recently met with the site’s owner, Ann Gloag, and reached agreement to acquire a majority interest.
Their plans include space for a wide range of businesses, with a focus on attracting companies interested in advanced manufacturing, as well as the provision of housing, shops, schools and community facilities.
Mr Musgrave commented: “Whilst it is too early to be specific about our plans, we will be looking to comprehensively redevelop the whole site to create a mixed-use community. This is in light of the fact that the airport has closed, the equipment has been sold and it will not reopen. We are aware that there were a number of job losses when the airport closed and a far greater number will replace these, and that the benefits will reach the whole of east Kent. We will assemble a first class team to produce and deliver high quality plans for the site.”
The plans are likely to include production and warehousing space in the development, which will meet a current shortage of space in Thanet for companies to grow and expand. It will also complement the Discovery Park scheme at Sandwich, where occupancy is already over 50% after only two years and recent demand for large production/warehousing requirements has been turned away due to lack of suitable accommodation.
Mr Cartner and Mr Musgrave are the team behind regeneration projects at Wynyard Park in the north-east of England, built on a site vacated by Samsung, and Discovery Park, where a new 220-acre science and technology park is being built on the site of Pfizer’s former headquarters.