Two hundred miles west of London and some 80 miles south of Bristol, Exeter is the natural regional capital of the southwest counties. Over the past 10 years, the region has developed significantly and is attracting a great deal of interest from inward investors – highlights have included the Eden Project, recent growth in air traffic at Exeter and Newquay Airports and imminent major city centre developments in Exeter and Plymouth. The relocation of the Met Office to Exeter looks as though it will have a similar positive effect on the city as the Eden Project has had for Cornwall.

In support of this growth, Exeter City Council has developed a clearly defined mission for the city aimed at achieving a position in which Exeter is nationally regarded as the regional capital and as a premier city for quality of life in the UK. The city aims to develop its economic base and create a stronger, more diverse, sustainable local economy, maximising employment opportunities to meet the challenges and opportunities offered by new technologies.

In particular, the council has taken a lead in establishing Exeter as the premier southwest centre for tech-nology-based companies. Over the past two years, through its ICT Committee, the council has forged new alliances among the region's key educational establishments. It has directed developers to provide hi-speed infrastructure in the city, cajoled BT to provide 100% broadband coverage and organised e-commerce courses. The Exeter E-Friendly campaign has its own website and Exeter has the best wireless broadband coverage, per head of population, in the UK.

One of Exeter's five new strategic objectives is for the city to be recognised nationally as one that encourages and supports innovation and the effective use of IT. This strategic objective would be met if the planned new science park, which has been under consideration for a number of years, were to be successfully developed.

In 1998, an innovation centre was opened at Exeter University that quickly attracted suitable tenants, mainly from the local area. As is essential and natural for a centre based on innovation, the tenant profile has changed almost three times in six years. Inevitably, some of the businesses that used the innovation centre in their early days have been lost to the southwest, as there has been no corresponding Exeter science park for them to move on to – it is well established that you can have an effective innovation centre without a science park, but you cannot have a science park without an innovation centre. Exeter has the latter, together with a vibrant university. The science park is therefore a logical development and will be fundamental in the region's efforts to create an additional 25,000 jobs by 2005.

In 2002, the city council, the Regional Development Agency (RDA) and Exeter University commissioned a feasibility study for a science park in Exeter. This concluded that a park should be established of between 60 and 100 acres, capable of attracting international companies. These companies would relate well with the university, the innovation centre and the existing business community, which now includes, of course, the Met Office. The current draft of the structure plan for Devon now accepts the need for the science park and an allocation has been made for it to the east of Exeter. It will be located close to the Met Office, the motorway network and the expanding Exeter airport.

And there are other developments underway. The expanding number of ICT businesses in the southwest has recently given rise to a new membership organisation for the area covered by the southwest RDA called 'Wired West'. The aim of this new organisation is to join up the many skill-sets that exist into a coherent network of mutual trading and assistance. Many member businesses would welcome a science park located near Exeter, building on the success of the Tamar science park established in Plymouth in 1995 as a partnership between the University of Plymouth, Plymouth City Council and Business Link. It is now home to the Peninsula Medical School and many science and technology-based businesses.

For law firms in the city, the setting up of a new area of business always creates opportunities. At its most basic, there are new companies to set up, part-nership and joint-venture agreements to put together and, inevitably, property work. In order to attract this new business, lawyers will need to be innovative, and as the new economy takes shape it will be essential that the lawyers themselves understand the new sorts of business they will be advising – we expect, for example, to recruit far more science graduates in the years ahead. In the future it is easy to imagine law firms having offices in the science park and operating in dedicated teams specialising in complex technology-sharing arrangements, intellectual property and e-commerce.

The outlook for Exeter generally, and for professional services in particular, is very buoyant. The arrival of the Met Office and London Electricity, the imminent redevelopment of the Princesshay area within the city centre, the creation of a new town, the planned expansion of the airport and the success of the city's sports teams will all create opportunities for the professions. The city's law firms are reaping the benefits of a new economic buoyancy, with three of the leading firms moving into brand new offices in the near future – the demand for quality office space is already exceeding supply.

For the region generally, there is an ongoing transformation from an economy based on agriculture and defence to one that is vibrant, modern and mainstream. All these developments indicate that Exeter really can earn its title as capital of the southwest.

Simon Gregory is a partner in the property group at Foot Anstey Sargent in Exeter.