Dorset Innovation Park near Wool added 125 full-time jobs in a year. Yeovil College plans a defence skills centre there, if ministers approve the money.

Dorset Innovation Park at Winfrith, near Wool, has added 125 full-time jobs in a year, the company that runs it says.

The figures come from Dorset Innovation Park Ltd, which the council owns and which took over full management of the park in July. Dorset Council published them on 4 November. The park is the county’s only Enterprise Zone.

What the company reported

  • 125 more full-time equivalent jobs over the past year, mostly from businesses already on the park expanding
  • more than £500,000 of savings in how the park is run
  • plans for an Advanced Engineering and Defence Skills Centre with Yeovil College
  • progress on Bournemouth University’s Security Operations Centre of the Future at BattleLab, a cyber security research facility

The council has not said which businesses added the jobs.

The skills centre

Yeovil College and the council are developing the centre together. The college proposes:

  • about £2.4m of Defence Technical Excellence College capital money for the building
  • about £800,000 for specialist engineering and defence equipment

Both depend on approval from the Department for Education and the Ministry of Defence. The council says it is looking at putting money in as well.

The aim is a permanent teaching base on the park. It would offer full-time technical courses, apprenticeships and adult training for the defence and advanced manufacturing firms around it.

Drones and defence

The park is also a partner in a £20m bid to create a Global Autonomy Cluster, led by the University of Plymouth. Businesses are preparing a request for a command and control centre for unmanned systems. The proposals include a drone corridor between the park and Portland.

A Dorset Defence Prospectus is due by the end of 2026. The council says the sector is already worth £437m to Dorset’s economy.

In September, BattleLab hosted a NATO event with more than 44 companies from 14 nations.

Cllr Richard Biggs, the council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Economic Growth and Strategic Assets, said the growth in jobs and the new facilities “show that this work is producing results”.

Kevin Forshaw, managing director of Dorset Innovation Park Ltd, said “Dorset’s technological role in UK defence is not fully appreciated”.

What it means for you

  • If you are looking for work or training in engineering, the skills centre is the part to watch. Nothing is confirmed until the two government departments approve the money.
  • If you live near Wool or Portland, the drone corridor is a proposal in a funding bid, not a decision.

Sources