Dorset Innovation Park (formerly Dorset Green Technology Park, and earlier known as Winfrith Technology Centre) is a science and technology park which is owned by the

Homes and Communities Agency Homes England is the non-departmental public body that funds new affordable housing in England. It was founded on 1 January 2018 to replace the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). HCA in turn was established by the Housing and Regeneration Act ...

. The site was the former

UKAEA The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority is a UK government research organisation responsible for the development of fusion energy. It is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). T ...

Winfrith Atomic Energy Establishment which was in service from the 1950s to the early 1990s. The Steam Generating Heavy Water Reactor was also developed at the site. The centre is situated near the village of

Winfrith Newburgh Winfrith Newburgh (), commonly called just Winfrith, is a village and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is about west of Wareham and east of the county town Dorchester. It was historically part of the Winfrith hundred. In the 2011 Census ...

, which is some eight miles (13 km) west of Wareham and nine miles (14 km) east of Dorchester. It is now home to the Defence BattleLab, which was officially opened in May 2022.

History

Winfrith Technology Centre

Winfrith Technology Centre dates from the 1980s when part of the

site was already being referred to by that name. It was used as a research and development centre in support of the nuclear, oil and gas industries. By the early 21st century, under the ownership of UKAEA, the centre was home to about 50 companies including defence technology company

QinetiQ QinetiQ ( as in '' kinetic'') is a British defence technology company headquartered in Farnborough, Hampshire. It operates primarily in the defence, security and critical national infrastructure markets and run testing and evaluation capabili ...

which operated its underwater technology business there. QinetiQ would later sell its underwater technology division to

Atlas Elektronik Atlas Elektronik GmbH is a naval/marine electronics and systems business based in Bremen, Germany. It is involved in the development of integrated sonar systems for submarines and heavyweight torpedoes. The company was a subsidiary of BAE Syste ...

in 2009, whilst still remaining a tenant at Winfrith. In 2004 Winfrith Technology Centre was sold to the UK government's regeneration agency

English Partnerships English Partnerships (EP) was the national urban renewal, regeneration agency for England, performing a similar role on a national level to that fulfilled by regional development agency, regional development agencies on a regions of England, region ...

for £7.54 million. English Partnerships' ownership passed to its successor body, the

, in December 2008.

Dorset Green Technology Park

In early 2008 English Partnerships appointed Zog Brownfield Ventures to redevelop the six acres (2.4 hectares) of land at the site. The intention was "to create an eco-friendly business complex". By 2009 the site was being called the Dorset Green Technology Park. There were major plans to expand and redevelop the site.

Dorset Innovation Park

In 2018 the site was relaunched as the Dorset Innovation Park. The launch coincided with "the completion of 20 new employment units".

Defence BattleLab

The Dorset Innovation Park is also the site of a multi-million pound investment by the Ministry of Defence, Dorset LEP and Dorset Council as a "Collaboration Nerve Centre" to bring UK Armed Forces and their challenges to an ecosystem that will attract traditional defence suppliers, academics, subject matter experts, and small- to medium-sized businesses who may or may not already be suppliers to this sector. The Defence BattleLab was officially opened in May 2022.

Employment plans

Following an application partly developed by

Purbeck District Purbeck was a local government district in Dorset, England. The district was named after the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula that forms a large proportion of the district's area. However, it extended significantly further north and west than the tr ...

Council with the support of the Homes and Communities Authority (the owners), the site was granted Enterprise Zone status in 2015, thus enabling the local enterprise partnership (Dorset LEP) to retain 100% of the uplift in business rates for 25 years to invest in local economic growth. In June 2016 the Council approved a proposal to build a digital hub innovation centre which included conference, meeting, and catering facilities. Total project cost was forecast to be £8.17 million. The two staffing models considered included a managing agent or local authority-run service. By 2017, local councillors were predicting that the site would be a white elephant. It was reported that business interest was not for new start ups but for the relocation of existing businesses from within Dorset.