Harworth brings foward industrial plans

PROPERTY regeneration company Harworth Estates is accelerating plans for the second phase of a new industrial development in South Yorkshire following “strong demand” from hi-tech firms.

The company said it will submit a planning application by June 2014 for three further industrial units on five acres of land at the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham.

It then plans to develop a further 21 acres for AMPlify, a new phase of employment development on the same site.

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The news comes after the firm signed deals for over half of the space at its 117,000 sq ft speculative industrial development, R-evolution@The AMP.

High-performance alloy supplier Maher and Nikken Kosakusho Europe, a supplier of precision engineering products, have signed up for buildings of up to 40,000 sq ft and 25,000 sq ft respectively.

Both companies already lease space at the AMP, which forms part of Harworth’s Waverley regeneration site, and are leasing the additional units for expansion space.

Campbell Carruth, director of business space at Harworth Estates, said: “The sale of the first two units at R-evolution to top-quality occupiers justifies our decision to build speculatively and proves the latent demand for high quality space in the region.

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“Such is the scarcity of equivalent-quality stock in the Yorkshire & Humber region that we are accelerating our plans for a second phase of R-evolution, utilising the significant remaining land designated for employment here at Waverley”.

The sales leave two units available to let at R-evolution and have prompted Harworth to bring forward plans for the second phase.

Construction of R-evolution began this week after Harworth completed a forward-purchase agreement for R-evolution’s last two plots of land with Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council for £4.3m.

Harworth is responsible for the letting of those units in 2014. It also secured a £2.7m loan from the Sheffield City Region Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas (JESSICA) Fund.

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The forward-purchasing agreement involves Rotherham Council taking ownership of R-evolution’s first phase when it is completed in October 2014. Harworth is responsible for the delivery and the leasing of the development.

The money from the SCR JESSICA Fund is paying for infrastructure works and the construction.

The SCR JESSICA Fund, which is made up of the European Regional Development Fund and Growing Places capital, aims to provide funding for projects at competitive commercial rates where funding might otherwise prove challenging in the current markets.

Coun Roger Stone, leader of Rotherham Council, said: “The Advanced Manufacturing Park is known globally for its cutting edge advanced manufacturing technology expertise, and has benefitted Rotherham through the creation of many high quality jobs and investment into the borough. R-evolution will help meet further demand from high quality manufacturing businesses, who want to expand and join the world-class companies already located at the AMP.”