HBD submits planning application for £120m Duxford AvTech campus at IWM Duxford

HBD, part of Henry Boot, has submitted a planning application for Duxford AvTech, a proposed £120m aviation technology campus of 425,000 sq ft beside the IWM Duxford airfield in South Cambridgeshire.

The developer said the campus would provide "mid-tech" research, development and manufacturing space for businesses developing low and zero-carbon aircraft technology, with access to IWM Duxford's Civil Aviation Authority airstrip.

HBD is progressing the scheme in partnership with IWM Duxford and Gonville and Caius College, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Its scheme page describes Imperial War Museums (IWM) and the college as joint landowners.

Hamer Boot, Managing Director at HBD, said: "Submitting the planning application is an important step forward for Duxford AvTech." He added that the campus "has the potential to make a significant contribution to the future of aviation technology in the UK."

The application

Alongside the wider campus proposals, the submission includes a detailed application for Phase 1B: a single 35,000 sq ft building divided into five units of 7,000 sq ft each, HBD said.

The proposals also include public realm, green spaces and walking and cycling routes. HBD said in September 2026 that the application would go to South Cambridgeshire District Council, following a second public consultation held that month in the Airside Suite at IWM Duxford.

The site is next to the IWM Duxford airfield and close to the University of Cambridge's Whittle Laboratory, whose director has written in support of the proposals, according to HBD. The developer's scheme page says it is targeting occupiers in Advanced Air Mobility and sustainable propulsion.

A changing scheme

The headline figures have moved since HBD was appointed. When IWM and Gonville & Caius College named HBD as development partner on 19 September 2025, the company put the project at 435,000 sq ft with a gross development value of £162m, and said it aimed to submit a planning application before the end of 2025.

By September 2026, when HBD unveiled updated plans, it described a £120m campus of around 435,000 sq ft. The submission release gives 425,000 sq ft. HBD has not explained the changes in its releases. The scheme website's programme lists planning as submitted in October 2026.

HBD release	Scheme value	Floor area
September 2025 appointment	£162m	435,000 sq ft
September 2026 updated plans	£120m	about 435,000 sq ft
Planning submission release	£120m	425,000 sq ft

The economic claims have stayed constant. HBD said at appointment that the scheme would deliver 1,200 new jobs and an estimated £64m in additional gross value added, and in September 2026 that it would contribute £64m annually to the local and regional economy.

Background

Gonville & Caius College announced Duxford AvTech as a 45,000 sqm development on land next to the existing IWM site, and said at the time that IWM and the college would publish a tender for a development partner the following week.

The college said then that IWM Duxford already provides around £43m in GVA and more than 1,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the East of England, and that the airfield would remain an airfield rather than becoming a commercial passenger or cargo airport.

HBD's September 2025 release describes the site as 25 acres, eight miles south of Cambridge city centre.

IWM Lab

Separately from the HBD campus, IWM is delivering a 105,000 sq ft IWM Lab, which the scheme website describes as a specialist conservation and storage facility. The college has described it as an energy-efficient conservation engineering centre and part of a ten-year, multi-million-pound plan for IWM Duxford.

According to HBD, IWM recently announced more than £10m of new funding for IWM Lab, including a grant of up to £10m from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and support from Bloomberg Philanthropies. HBD said a further £15m is needed to fully fund the building and that IWM is continuing its fundraising campaign.

What happens next

The scheme website's programme lists a Phase 1 construction start in early 2028 and Phase 1 completion in 2028/2029. Phase 1 units are being marketed from 5,375 to 34,560 sq ft, with the option to combine them.