Gleeds has been responsible for the development of the infrastructure design for the UK Vertical Launch (UKVL) Spaceport planned for the A’Mhoine peninsula in Sutherland - the first such facility to be developed in the UK. We were appointed through the SCAPE BECS Framework by Highlands & Islands Enteprise (HIE) who are sponsoring the project from the Strategic Outline Case stage.

Given the extremely novel nature of this project and that the regulatory environment is not yet in place, it has been essential to work closely with the UK Space Agency and the potential end users in order to define the infrastructure scope. This was an iterative process between these stakeholders and our technical team facilitated by the Gleeds Project Manager. Through interrogation of the end user requirements and the proposed regulatory environment (especially the safety case), we were able to develop a cohesive definition of the RIBA Stage 1 requirement to allow the project to move forward with confidence to detailed design stage. Without the input of our team, the requirement would have been expressed as a series of largely disjointed aspirations from each stakeholder that would have been mutually incompatible in many cases.

Added Value

Managed a highly complex stakeholder group; Identified and sourced appropriate design resource with the relevant skills to undertake brief development when the launch vehicles (rockets) are still in prototy pe and the regulatory environment is still going through the legislative process

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Suzanne Tearle

Suzanne Tearle
UK Defence Lead