A site in Dorset formerly owned by tech giant Siemens has been acquired for £7.75m.
Property developer Kingsbridge Estates, which specialises in commercial and office schemes, has bought 10.7 acres of land at Sopers Lane.
The Sussex-based company said it would work closely with the site’s current occupiers and local stakeholders to bring forward proposals for a phased development.
Read more: Dorset software firm Morning Data bought by global analytics group Verisk
Chief executive Chris Fry said: “We are excited about the Sopers Lane site and its potential for a phased redevelopment to support local employment and contribute positively to the local economy.
“This acquisition is in line with our mission to create sustainable schemes that help meet high levels of demand for quality commercial space across the South.”
In 2020 Dorset electric motor and gearbox manufacturer Parvalux acquired part of the former 28-acre Siemens site to build a new factory and office headquarters.
Electronics company Plessey took on the former wartime munitions factory site in 1966, where it designed and developed the bar code and barcode scanners, as well as the ‘Ernie’ machine, which selects the UK’s winning premium bonds numbers.
At its height the site employed 3,000 people, among them Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web.
Siemens took over the site in 1989, where it manufactured traffic management technology. The firm rebranded its Siemens Intelligent Transport Systems arm to Yunex Traffic in 2021, with the business now a separately managed company of the Mundys Group, a global mobility services firm.
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