Permission has been granted for a second building serving the life sciences sector at Inverness Campus.
The new building will be a twin to the existing Aurora House, which was completed in 2015.
Campus bosses Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) said there has been a number of “promising inquiries” about the tenancy at the existing building, prompting them to seek planning permission for a second building.
At present Aurora House is partly occupied by Aqua Pharma, which works in the sector focusing on tackling sea lice. A spokesman for HIE said: “Aurora House was designed to accommodate potential high growth life sciences organisations.
“The building is partially let, and with a number of promising inquiries in hand regarding remaining space.
“Having consent in place will enable us to plan for a second life sciences building should we require additional space for further growth in the sector.”
The second building has been granted planning permission by Highland Council’s planning officers.
It has been designed by Inverness-based ThreeSixty Architects.
They have previously described the design as being based on a “timber box”.
The two-storey office is similar in design to its neighbour Aurora House but not identical.
In his report planning case officer Simon Hindson said that the new building “takes cues from but does not mirror” Aurora House.
He said: “The scale, mass and orientation of the building sits well in relation to the adjacent proposal and will not adversely affect the delivery of the Campus masterplan on adjacent plots.
“The mass of the building has been broken up by the use of projections and a complimentary material palette.
“This is welcomed and will give the appearance of a high quality building matching with the quality of the built environment seen elsewhere within the Campus masterplan area.”
