Harworth secures £7m for Waverley progress

The plot represents the next wave of residential development at its flagship 740-acre mixed use development at Waverley, Rotherham.

Leading housebuilder Barratt Homes has acquired 11.7 acres and received "reserved matters" planning consent from Rotherham Council for the construction of 177 new units, due to commence in the second half of the year.

Rotherham-based Harworth said this marks the first phase of development, known as ‘Delta’, on the eastern side of the 740-acre site.

A brand new access – Waverley’s third – has been built by Harworth to support its plan to maintain multiple points of sale to housebuilders.

The sale also supports the extension of Waverley’s Highfield Land spine road throughout the development, a condition of the original outline planning consent granted by Rotherham Council in 2011.

Waverley Square, the joint venture set up between Harworth and Dransfield Properties to deliver Waverley’s 200,000 sq ft local centre, has secured a £7m grant from Sheffield City Region’s Local Growth Fund to support the centre.

The funding is a key part of the joint venture’s £43m plan for new retail, leisure and office facilities on the Waverley site, which sits at the heart of the Region's Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District (AMID) and emerging Global Innovation Corridor.

Harworth said the centre will support Waverley’s growing resident population, which currently numbers over 2,000 people, in addition to the 1,500 workers employed at the adjacent Advanced Manufacturing Park, where occupiers include Rolls-Royce, McLaren Automotive and the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, recently ranked as the number one in the UK for engineering research.

Waverley is Yorkshire’s largest brownfield redevelopment, with outline consent in place for 3,890 homes and 2 million sq ft of space.

To date over 850 homes have been built by Barratt Homes, Harron, Taylor Wimpey, Avant and Skyhouse, alongside 1.5m sq. ft of commercial space.

Local facilities have also started to be developed on-site, with a new school scheduled to open in September 2020.

Duncan Armstrong-Payne, associate director for major projects at Harworth, said: “These are significant milestones at Waverley. Land has now been sold over the last seven years for nearly 1,500 homes, whilst the local centre will deliver hundreds of new jobs.

"At the same time, it supports our accelerated plot sale programme and provides the facilities that our growing resident and occupier population increasingly require. I am thrilled by the site’s progress and what we continue to achieve for Rotherham, the City Region and the North of England.”

Peter Henry, regional director for Yorkshire & Central at Harworth, added: “I couldn’t be prouder of what the team continues to achieve at our flagship development.

"A huge amount of work has been put in by our engineering team to prepare ground for the new road and for Barratt’s new parcel, alongside continued planning work with Rotherham Council and close work with Sheffield City Region to secure funding to support the build out of the local centre.”

Ian Ruthven, managing director at Barratt Developments Yorkshire West, said Barratt has established an "excellent" working relationship with Harworth

"We are very pleased to have secured a further land parcel at Waverley," he said.

"The new developments will offer a range of stylish two, three and four-bedroom homes, catering to both first time buyers and growing families.

"Barratt Homes is committed to building high-quality homes, creating new jobs and communities, and supporting economic growth right across the region. The Delta site will further enhance the Waverley community as well as helping to address the housing shortage in the region and the UK as a whole.”

The deal with Barratt is its third signing with Harworth in recent months following the housebuilder's purchase of two land parcels in Doncaster in December.

The first was a 13.2 acre site at Harworth’s Pheasant Hill Park development in Doncaster close to Junction 3 of the M18, where it plans to construct 184 three and four-bedroom homes over the next two years.

In addition, Barratt acquired 11.4 acres at Harworth’s Riverdale Park development close to Doncaster town centre for 191 new homes across a range of tenures. Construction has now begun on both of these sites.