Eurotunnel (EDL) has received planning consent for its proposals to turn a camp which housed workers on the Channel Tunnel into a technology village.
The company will develop five clusters of buildings, offering a total of 18,813 sq m (202,425 sq ft) of offices as well as parking for 900 cars. The development will occupy 30 of the 467 acres at the site at Farthingloe, near Dover, which is the first in the area to service the needs of telecoms and internet companies.
EDL is offering the offices on a design-and-build basis on new leases, and may consider freehold sales. The company also plans to refurbish a grade II-listed farmhouse and nearby thatched barn at the site to create further offices and a function room.
Dover is designated an Assisted Area and grants will be available to occupiers. EDL managing director David Wilson confirmed that the company is in talks with “a number of major domestic and European companies”.
“It is fitting that Eurotunnel should continue its legacy of providing employment at Farthingloe, from construction in the late 1980s to hi-tech in the 21st century,” he said.
EGi News 20/10/00
