Orkney investment boosts results for HIE in 2024/25
More than £7m was invested by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) in Orkney during 2024-25.
Wick Business Park has welcomed wind energy technology company ENERCON as the first occupant of one of four new units completed last year.
ENERCON specialises in designing, producing, installing and servicing onshore wind turbines and has been operating in the Caithness area since 2013.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) developed the units in response to local demand. They were built by Caithness company John Gunn & Sons and designed by Threesixty Architecture.
They also meet modern building standards that reflect well on the environment, with solar panels, EV charging points and air-source heat pumps.
The project forms part of wider development by HIE to create flexible workspaces in rural locations around the Highlands and Islands.
Construction of a further four units started in April, in a £1.8m contract awarded by HIE to Morgan Sindall Construction and Infrastructure Ltd.
Eann Sinclair, HIE’s area manager for Caithness and Sutherland, said:
“We’re delighted to welcome ENERCON to Wick Business Park. The company is a great example of the type of business for which the new units were designed.
“We’re developing new flexible commercial premises at the Park in response to considerable interest locally. The units are suitable either for local firms thinking about growth or companies from elsewhere looking to set up in the north, and they have been designed with low carbon in mind.”
Mark Byrne, managing director for ENERCON Services UK Ltd, said:
“We are delighted to be the first occupant of the new facilities in Wick Business Park, an exciting milestone that reaffirms ENERCON’s long-term commitment to delivering safe, high-quality maintenance for our customers’ wind turbine fleets across Caithness.”
Details of other units available for lease at Wick Business Park are on the HIE website.
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