Introducing our Aerospace and Space Law team
Article by
Ralph Riddiough
In September 2022 Holmes Mackillop established an office in the industrial estate at Prestwick Airport in order to be closer to our many existing clients in Ayrshire, and with a strategic eye on the exciting developments at the long established Prestwick Aerospace Park and the prospective Prestwick Spaceport. In the same year we also become corporate sponsors of the Royal Aeronautical Society which has its HQ at 4 Hamilton Place in London, and an active local branch in Prestwick, of which we are members.
Our Aerospace and Space Law team is led by the head of our corporate department Ralph Riddiough who spends time each week in our Prestwick office, supported by Finlay Swan and Rachel Loose. There will be many new opportunities for local and Scottish businesses and we are ideally placed to advise on the legal, regulatory and contractual / supply chain issues that will arise. We have strong links with the Ayrshire business community and the engineering faculties of Scottish Universities which we support with talks and seminars to masters students on legal aspects of emerging technologies. Opportunities will only increase as investment in infrastructure is rolled out.
Ralph spent 4 years as Head of Legal and Democratic Services at South Ayrshire Council from 2014 to 2018 which means he brings first hand insights into commercial projects that a have a public sector interface. He was involved in the governance of the successful Regional Growth Deal bid that will support delivery of the Prestwick Spaceport with £80m of funding, enabling the Prestwick Spaceport to pursue its ambition to be the leading horizontal spaceport in Europe. The Prestwick Spaceport has a unique combination of attributes - the longest runway in the UK north of Manchester, northerly latitude, over sea take off, favourable weather conditions and the talent pool and collaborative opportunities presented by the many world-leading aerospace companies at the Prestwick Aerospace Park, including Spirit Aerosystems, GE Caledonian, Collins Aerospace and BAE Systems.
It is estimated that Prestwick Spaceport will create more than 4,000 jobs in Ayrshire. The recent announcement as part of the Ayrshire Growth Deal that Phoenix Arizona-based Mangata Networks has signed a $100 million financing deal to build a manufacturing facility at Prestwick for its multi-orbit broadband constellation is a sign of great things to come. Mangata are seeking to create up to 575 mainly highly paid, highly skilled technical engineering jobs in the area over the coming years.
We will post regular updates on our website and social media. The world is witnessing a resurgence of interest in space law in all its geopolitical and sustainability contexts, as we enter the third space age and grapple with the challenges of launch, the impact on the environment, the exploitation of resources in space, the uses of space data and the increasing pressures to clean up debris to ensure humanity can continue to access orbits and space.
If you are interested in opportunities in this area please get in touch - we’d love to hear from you.