Our track record of generating income for the business is highlighted by our strong portfolio of business parks, low-carbon energy schemes and directly developed commercial units that we have recently built ourselves for long-term lease on some of our sites.
Our income-producing assets make up nearly 40% of our property portfolio and we adopt proven asset management techniques through our in-house Business Space and Natural Resources teams. These assets include over 15 business parks and development sites where we receive both rent and service charges from existing industrial units and directly developed commercial units.
Much of our land portfolio also lends itself to low-carbon energy production, being located at sites without good transport access but having significant former grid connections arising from the previous use of land. Such schemes include solar, wind, AD, gas, STOR and battery storage. At the end of 2018, we had 294.5MW of low-carbon energy generation capacity installed on our land – providing a significant contribution to the National Grid’s strategy of increasing its generation from renewable energy sources.
Our in-house Operations team also plays a large part in the company’s ability to drive income from its land by recovering materials on-site and selling them to various contractors across the UK. This material includes coal fines, slurry, concrete and various scrap recovered from on-site demolition works. In 2018, our Operations team recovered around 400,000 tonnes of coal fines from major development sites including Thoresby, Kellingley and Rufford. This material was then sold to power station operators including Drax, EDF and Uniper.
With over 13,000 acres of agricultural land in our portfolio, our Natural Resources team are currently leasing this land to over 200 farming tenants across our core regions for various farming activities. In addition to farm tenancies, this also includes agricultural-related residential properties and a number of fishing and shooting licences.
The following pages are key projects that highlight our impressive track record for income generation: