BUILDERS this week raised the roof on Okehampton?s flagship £6 million business centre with a topping out ceremony on Tuesday. The mayor of West Devon, Cllr Dennis Bater, carried out the time honoured tradition marking the completion of the highest point of the building. The business centre will feature the very latest advances in eco-friendly technology. It will provide a number of small units to aid and encourage new businesses in the area. Cllr Bater said: ?I am delighted that West Devon Borough Council has been part of this strong partnership to provide new job opportunities in Okehampton. ?It is really important that we are able to bring more employment to Okehampton to balance the growth of the town. The rural business centre will provide first class accommodation to allow new business to set up and develop.? The new centre is being made possible as part of a £3.25 million investment from the South West of England Regional Development Agency (RDA), £2.25 million from the Objective Two European Regional Development Fund and £650,000 from West Devon Borough Council, which is managing the project. It is the first development on the 26-acre Opportunity Okehampton site on Exeter Road. Steve O?Higgins, development manager for the South West RDA, said: ?The focus of our work is to unlock the business potential of the region and this project will contribute towards this goal by providing much needed space for businesses in Okehampton, leading directly to the creation of new jobs. ?We?re very pleased to be celebrating this milestone in its construction.? The business centre, which is being built by the Exeter office of Rok, will be made up of 16 starter units providing modern work spaces for new and growing small firms. Rok are also building new roads and services to open up the rest of the site for development. Dave Wainwright, Rok?s Exeter Area Leader, said: ?We are delighted to be involved in bringing forward this exciting project which will deliver benefits for the local community and the wider region. ?We?re also pleased to be using our expertise to provide a building which has been designed to be at the very forefront of environmental and sustainable technology.? Green features include building materials chosen for low environmental impact, windows designed to increase natural lighting and conserve electricity, solar panels to provide a significant percentage of the buildings? energy needs, a wind turbine to provide 6KW of power, and a boiler fuelled by wood pellets, a renewable energy source, to provide heating. Offices will have natural ventilation, rainwater will be collected and re-used in toilet facilities, and the buildings will have energy efficient fittings. Carbon emissions from the starter units are expected to be about 80 per cent less than using conventional energy sources, saving around 50 tonnes of carbon emissions a year. Tavistock-based Ian Penrose of SMC Penrose Architects said: ?I am delighted at the opportunity that SWERDA and West Devon Borough Council presented for an iconic building on a gateway site, and one which would offer all of the benefits of sustainable design such as the use of wind power, solar energy bio-mass heating and a clever energy-free night time cooling system.? The business centre is expected to be completed next year. At the topping out ceremony, Rok staff and Cllr Bater were joined by schoolchildren from Okehampton Primary School. They helped place a bat box on the site ? one of a series of measures to protect and enhance the habitat of a bat foraging area on an adjoining site. The children also entered a competition to design posters raising awareness of the bat boxes. The site will also feature two artificial ponds when it is completed, which will control drainage from the site into the Okement river.
