Knowledge Quarter to be created at Blackpool Airport site

It is proposed to redevelop the site, which also includes the current airport administration offices, into a Knowledge Quarter as part of the Blackpool Airport Enterprise Zone.

The area is close to the TransAtlantic Aquacomms fibre cable which links the UK to the US and Northern Europe and comes ashore at Blackpool – giving the town the ability to take advantage of super fast internet speeds.

A council report says: “The Knowledge Quarter has been identified, due to the proximity of the TransAtlantic Aquacomms fibre cable, as an area which can be developed with a specific focus on the data, digital, technology and the energy/sustainability sectors.”

It is hoped the investment will lead to the creation of future skilled jobs in digital industries, and research and development.

The first step would be to create a technology demonstrator facility to provide acccommodation for a data centre, along with academic space and offices.

Initial proposals are for a three floor facility, with research set to be carried out into the potential use of waste energy as a source of heating.

This would be “initially providing the waste energy to the adjacent buildings but with a wider aim to be part of more complex system providing waste heat energy to across the town.”

It is expected the airport administration offices would be relocated to make way for the scheme.

The report adds the former fire station and engineering workshop buildings have been empty for around eight months and are ” in a poor state of repair and now considered to be in an unsafe condition.

“It is therefore proposed that this property is demolished in order to provide aground-level development plot suitable for the future delivery of the ‘Technology Demonstrator’.”

Demolition will cost around £85,000.

The undersea cable forms part of the North Atlantic Loop, which will provide a third of the world’s internet connection.

It was brought ashore at Starr Gate in 2020, and connected to the existing network, with a connection point at the Enterprise Zone.