Harworth sells land parcel in Woodville, Derbyshire, to Barwood Homes for delivery of 73 new houses

Harworth Group plc, a leading regenerator of land and property for sustainable development and investment, has completed the sale of an eight-acre land parcel at Woodville, Derbyshire to Barwood Homes for the delivery of 73 new houses. This represents Harworth’s first transaction with the Northampton-based housebuilder.

The land parcel forms part of a 53-acre regeneration site which is owned by Beepart Ltd, part of Dyson Group, the Sheffield-based former manufacturer of industrial materials. Harworth is promoting the site on its behalf through a Planning Promotion Agreement. In April 2022, South Derbyshire District Council granted outline consent for the creation of up to 300 homes on the site, in addition to a c.30,000 sq ft local centre with convenience retail and leisure amenities and over 150,000 sq ft of employment space for a range of uses.

The wider site has been unlocked by the delivery of Derbyshire County Council’s Woodville to Swadlincote Regeneration Route, which opened to traffic in December 2021, providing better access to Swadlincote and traffic relief in Woodville, as well as improved connectivity across the site. Preparation works will commence shortly for the next phases of residential and employment land sales at the development.

Harworth has been highly active in residential land sales so far in 2022. In July it confirmed that over 100% of its budgeted residential plot sales for the year had either completed, exchanged or were in heads of terms, which included its largest serviced residential land sale to date: a £29 million sale at Waverley, South Yorkshire, to Barratt and David Wilson Homes. Harworth also recently launched a portfolio of up to 1,200 single-family Build to Rent (“BTR”) homes across 10 of its sites, as it works towards its ambition of selling 2,000 residential plots per year by 2027.

“This sale is a fantastic start to the development at Woodville and we are pleased to welcome Barwood Homes to the site, who will deliver high quality new housing for the local community. Our focus is now on bringing forward the rest of the development, utilising our extensive experience in the remediation of complex sites, including earthworks and infrastructure, to ready the remaining residential and employment land.”

Ed Catchpole, Regional Director – Yorkshire & Central, Harworth Group plc

“We are delighted to be working alongside Harworth on this exciting development. The team is looking forward to engaging with the local community as we gear up to deliver a scheme of excellent quality in design, build and service.”

Luke Simmons, Managing Director – Barwood Homes

“This first sale of a residential portion of the site is an important step in unlocking the full development potential of the whole, something we have been trying to achieve for many years. Such development will help regenerate Woodville and the surrounding area, somewhere we have had a presence since 1967 and are delighted to participate in.”

Gavin Rosson, Managing Director – Dyson Group

Beepart Ltd was advised by Titchmarsh & Bagley and Fisher German.