Sutherland Spaceport hailed as ‘a real prize’ by HIE chief executive
Sutherland Spaceport is set to be “a real prize” for the far north when satellite launches get under way next year, the chief executive of Highlands and Enterprise has said.
He also reported that Orbex, the company behind the development and operation of the project on the A’Mhoine peninsula on the north coast, has a “very, very positive” order book.
Stuart Black was speaking after visiting the spaceport site as part of a two-day tour of businesses and community ventures along with other senior figures from the region’s economic and community development agency.
Orbex will use the site to launch up to 12 orbital rockets a year. It is hoped the spaceport will eventually support around 250 jobs, including 40 jobs in Sutherland and Caithness.
Economic impact assessments commissioned by HIE have suggested it could generate almost £1 billion in gross value added for the region’s economy over the next 30 years.
“We had discussions with Orbex about their future order book and that looks very, very positive,” Mr Black said after speaking to far north businesses and community development organisations at a board engagement event in Wick on Monday.
“When they launch from the north of Scotland, probably next year, that’ll be a real prize for the area in terms of technology and being seen as a place that’s looking forward optimistically to the future rather than a place that’s stuck in the past.
“The company already employs a number of people locally, but that number will grow. Their planning permission gives them a launch a month which, given the logistics, is pretty reasonable.
“I think that will then create a whole bunch of supply-chain impacts. They are already staying in local hotels, they’ve got a project team up there building the spaceport at the moment – we were inspecting the new road that’s going in.
“So there is an economic impact already, but the economic impacts will only increase once they start to get into the operational phase. I think that will create a lot of interest in what’s happening.
“I know from attending events like the Farnborough International Airshow, which is more and more about space, that there is a lot of interest in Scotland. And that interest is focused more on the north of Scotland because there’s a lot of satellite manufacture around Glasgow – but there are very few places in Europe where you can launch satellites, so the interest in the Highlands and islands is really strong.”
Eann Sinclair, HIE’s area manager for Caithness and Sutherland, said: “The fact that Orbex has chosen to build out in Sutherland has created confidence within the local community and the [Melness] crofters’ estate is now going for planning for housing development.
“They are taking the next step, which is to try and anticipate where they’re going to put people.”