Jobs to be created on site of former Maltby Colliery by £1.6m development

Work has started on a major £1.6M plant auction facility for the world's largest auctioneer of construction, agricultural and transport equipment, Ritchie Bros at the former Maltby Colliery in South Yorkshire. The development is expected to create 30 full time jobs.

Leeds-based Edward Architecture has been appointed to design and deliver the Canadian company’s first permanent purpose-built plant and machinery auction facility in the UK.

A spokesman said: "Specialists in strategic land and master planning, Edward Architecture has a long-term relationship with landowner Hargreaves on the 486-acre former colliery site in Maltby.

"The site has strong energy and access infrastructure due to its former purpose, including its own railway link and other site uses include employment - such as energy companies and restoration operators - as well as residential allocation and plans for a country park."

Planning permission was granted earlier this year for the 40-acre plot to accommodate the auction facility, which will hold both live and online auctions, and Edward Architecture helped agree the specification, site layout and building design as part of the original planning submission.

The company also supported Hargreaves in the deal to bring Ritchie Bros. to Maltby from its former base at Donington Park, which it outgrew. Maltby Colliery opened in 1912 and closed in 2013.

The spokesman added: "Following on from their worldwide auction facilities including the Middle East, Australia, Japan, the United States, and Canada, the first UK purpose-built facility for Ritchie Bros. will feature a new auction building, auction lot yard for equipment display, check-in building, and office space, as well as external works.

"A 15,000 sq ft auction building will be constructed with a public sales auditorium with a fully glazed wall overlooking the ‘auction ramp’ where immense lots, including massive diggers, hydraulic excavators, rigid dump trucks and wheel loaders will be showcased to potential buyers."

"The development will also feature a four-acre small lot yard, as well as 5,000 sq ft of office space with a registration area, auction back up and UK head office facility.

"Ritchie Bros. auctions are attended by bidders globally in person or online and the scheme will deliver 3.5 acres of customer parking for auction days and a 2,000 sq ft check-in building. The remainder of the 40-acre site is an open display yard following demolition of the former mine buildings."

The auction building will be completed in October 2020. External work will be finished in May 2021.

The contractor appointed for the external works is MHH Contractors Limited and the Auction building contractor is O & P Construction. The wider project team includes JNP Group as Structural Engineers, MRB as M&E Consultants and NPS Barnsley as Quantity Surveyors.

Graham Edward, Managing Director, Edward Architecture said; “We are delighted to help facilitate and design the first purpose-built plant auction facility in the UK for such a prestigious, international auctioneer as Ritchie Bros.

"It’s fantastic to bring this unique and exciting development to Maltby, designed to conduct large multi-day auctions. Ritchie Bros. has auction facilities around the globe so it’s great that they have added Maltby with its long, rich heritage to its list of high-profile locations.”

Rupert Craven, Sales Director, at Ritchie Bros UK, said; “We are very pleased with the plans put together by Edward Architecture and cannot wait to welcome our customers at our new facility once it’s complete. At Ritchie Bros., we are dedicated to providing our customers with the best buying and selling experience possible and this site provides a great central location for equipment storage and inspection—even when all our auctions are virtual during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Ritchie Bros. was founded in British Columbia, Canada in 1958 as a family-owned auction company. In 1987 the company moved to Europe, holding its first European auctions in the UK.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor