Norwegian steel group’s debut in region set to create new jobs

JOBS are expected to be created in Yorkshire by a Norwegian steel firm, it was revealed yesterday.

Sverdrup Steel has selected Beighton Link Business Park, near Rotherham, in South Yorkshire as the site for its first operation outside Norway.

The global supplier of high performance steel has signed a 10-year lease on a 20,954 sq ft unit on the park, which it will use to establish a distribution facility.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Sverdrup Steel, which recently celebrated its 20-year anniversary, will initially employ a small team on the park.

Torstein Erevik, the chief executive at Sverdrup Steel, said: “We were looking to establish our first venture outside Norway and having decided upon the UK, began looking into areas which were well connected to the rest of the country and then properties which matched our requirements.

“Beighton Link is a prestigious business park and the quality of the unit was ideal. We are excited about expanding our operations into South Yorkshire.”

Nick Gillott, a director with JF Finnegan, the developer behind the business park, said yesterday: “Beighton Link has always been an exciting development to be involved with. To be welcoming another global operator, Sverdrup Steel is a major coup for the scheme and completes our tenant mix.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Our plans for the remaining three acres at Beighton Link include more of the same, but with potential retail and leisure opportunities as well.”

The park’s other tenants include Ideal Envelopes, Viaturn and SP Smith Painting Contractors.

JF Finnegan was represented by the Sheffield offices of CBRE and Crossland Otter Hunt in connection with the deal, while Sverdrup Steel represented itself.

Daniel Austin, senior surveyor of Industrial Agency at CBRE, said: “JF Finnegan’s reputation for the delivery of quality developments in strategic locations has once again played a pivotal role in attracting a major tenant to the region. Beighton Link is close to all the major motorway networks and offers the calibre of building that Sverdrup Steel required.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“The successful track record of the development was a further plus point, which has resulted in the full occupancy of Phase 1.”

Since its formation in 1992, Sverdrup Steel has grown to become a worldwide supplier of a wide range of steel products. It’s based in Stavanger, the hub of the Norwegian oil and gas industry, which gives the company easy access to world markets.

In recent years, JF Finnegan has been involved in a number of projects that have created jobs and brought investment to South Yorkshire.

In May, JF Finnegan completed a deal with Henderson Global Investors for the purchase and construction of a 110,000 sq ft factory for Sheffield-based Home Décor.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The development is expected to kick-start the regeneration of the 15-acre former Laycast Foundry Works site.

The site, in Woodhouse Mill to the east of Sheffield, was occupied by Laycast until the organisation’s operations closed in 2006. The company was put out of business by massive electricity price rises, eight years after the completion of a multi-million pound investment in equipment which created one of the most advanced foundries in Europe.

Over the last four years, Woodhouse Link, a joint venture between JF Finnegan and Laycast, has undertaken a demolition and remediation programme to create an industrial and distribution park known as Woodhouse Link.

Home Décor is moving from its current base on Beighton Road in East Sheffield to the new facility.

The premises are expected to be completed in December this year.

Related topics: