Beckett Rankine’s Waterfront Development Strategy for Plymouth’s South Yard Area 5 has been published on the Oceangate website and can be downloaded here (http://www.oceansgateplymouth.com/downloads-links/).

This strategy was developed in close co-operation with Plymouth City Council and other stakeholders. To achieve this we inspected the historic dry-docks and assessed the relative merits of the needs for a wide range of potential marine users. We were seeking to identify business sectors that could maximise the potential for this rare marine infrastructure. This should further build Plymouth as a marine cluster, based on its natural location and strong maritime heritage for marine enterprise.

With the south coast as the UK’s top location for marine and maritime capability, one focus is to attract a growing network of scientific, advanced engineering and high-tech manufacturing companies. This exciting industry cluster, already allied to world-leading universities and boasting a highly skilled workforce, offers significant business support and attractive relocation sites.

Plymouth’s South Yard – now re-branded as Oceansgate – is the site of one of the first stone-built dry docks in the world, completed in 1698 and remaining largely unchanged until the 19th century. This dockyard has expanded considerably along the waterfront over the years to become the largest naval base in Western Europe. Many successful marine companies operate here in addition to a significant Ministry of Defence presence, which also offers supply chain opportunities.