There's something in the air - and more! (continued)

A whistle-stop tour

I was happy to accept Morris's offer of a whistle-stop tour of the complex, the better to understand the scale of current commercial activity on the site as well as the amazing variety of uses to which the existing and new buildings on site were being put.

Our first port of call was to Skylodge - a 49 room motel-cum-lodge with a reception area at Norwell House which also houses a number of serviced offices. There are serviced offices in various parts of the Business Park. Lucy Stott manages Norwell House and Skylodge. I was shown one of the beautifully furnished double rooms in Skylodge. Aside from television and hospitality tray and lots of hanging and drawer space, the room, as with all the others has an en suite bathroom complete with power shower at the specific request of Morris! Luxury indeed at the end of a long drive or after a day exploring the hills and lochs of Highland Perthshire. What's more the Skylodge is so very easily accessible not only by road with lots of free parking on site but also by air if you choose to fly in.

To list all the companies now housed at Perth Airport and Business Park would mean using up the rest of my allotted space. The range of activity is remarkable in spaces that vary in size from a 61,116 square feet hangar to a 1,025 square feet office unit.

But to give some impression of the variety I'll mention Iain M. Smith, the auctioneer and valuer whose company is now based here and whose sales are popular not least for the ease of parking and accessibility. Nearby Murdoch McKenzie Construction deals in machinery and road-sweeping equipment, A&P Bearings are suppliers of engine parts, the Norwell Clinic offers a range of therapies and Bälans Pilates Studio has a tempting menu of treatments and massage and beauty services. Lantra - the agricultural training provider are based at Newlands, as are Brian Reid & Sons, the coffin and casket makers. Homeheat Ltd, the award winning plumbing and heating specialists, are located in one of the attractive detached units.

There are IT companies, consultancy firms, GMTS Ltd - motor cycle training, wood-workers, workshops and training establishments, landscape gardeners….and, of course, there's still an operational airport with several units at the hangars devoted to aviation. Perth Airport 2000 is the company operating the airport.

The enormous Hangar No 1 is occupied by the Scottish Aero Club whose members enjoy recreational flying. (Morris told me that when he bought Perth Airport 9 years ago the club had around 40 members. It now has around 150.) The hangar is shared with Air Service Training (Eng) Ltd, training aircraft engineering students, and Pro-Rope which offers industrial rope access training.

In Hangar No 2 aircraft maintenance is carried out by Tayflite Ltd. who also offer flying and simulator training. In Hangar 4 Air Charter Scotland undertake the maintenance of aircraft and helicopters - and on the subject of helicopters, when President George W Bush attended the G8 Conference last summer at Gleneagles his helicopter was parked here at Scone.

As we drove around the business park what Morris didn't say is, but what became increasingly obvious to me was, the amount of thought that's gone into the development - thought and thoughtfulness in catering for people's real needs. There is, for instance, a fairly large area of land at Newlands given over to a secure caravan parking site with space for almost 200 caravans. Former farm buildings and other large units now house self-storage container units of various dimensions.

Putting roofs over heads

Outstanding, though, is the creation out of what were formerly dormitory blocks, of 32 terraced cottages to let. Of these there is 1 four-bedroom cottage, 4 three-bedroom cottages, 24 two-bedroom cottages and 3 with single bedrooms. Each cottage has laminated flooring and fully fitted kitchens and blinds. They are exclusively to rent.

Jan Longmuir told me, When we advertised this development I have to say I was absolutely amazed at the number of people of all age groups who came. The cottages were all let before the completion date and it really was terrible to have to turn away people when the cottages were filled. I felt especially sorry for the old age pensioners. I wished so much that we'd had 100 more cottages to let. We would have filled them. The demand so vastly outstrips the supply in Perthshire.

On our tour Morris showed me a further housing development on ground east of the airport towards the village of Balbeggie. Here have been built four fully-furnished and equipped holiday houses. One has four bedrooms and sleeps up to 8, the others have three bedrooms, sleeping up to 6. Advertised via Hoseasons, these houses are marvellously situated for access to all the surrounding countryside, Perth and places of interest all over the Perthshire Highlands and central Scotland.

Amongst the other major developments underway is the conversion of the main former college building, Stormont Hall - into an antiques and visitor centre complete with licensed restaurant. With the present Touchdown Café at Hangar No 2 already popular with on and off site patrons - the proposed Aviator Restaurant with a visitor centre so easily accessed from Perth ought to be very popular indeed.

As we concluded our tour I asked Morris how he saw the future for Perth as a whole - and its development in the business sector.

The success of this Business Park indicates to me a strong need for the kind of business and personal accommodation letting my Group provides here and all over the country. There is an evident urgent need for affordable rented accommodation in this area and I am currently planning a development of 80 more houses to rent here. Teenagers to OAPs, they have to have roofs over their heads that they can afford. There has to be decent housing. And small businesses ought to have the chance to become established with affordable rents as part of feasible budgets.