Harworth Practically Completes Direct Development at the AMP

Harworth Group plc has announced that it has practically completed six new units totalling 52,068 sq. ft as part of its continued expansion of the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Waverley, Rotherham – the UK’s premier advanced technology park.

Key Points

  • Harworth’s investment has been driven by demand for space from manufacturers wanting to be in close proximity of the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC).
  • JF Finnegan began construction of the units in September 2016, with practical completion achieved in April 2017.
  • The completed new units range from 4,966 sq. ft to 26,107 sq. ft and have been designed with leading advanced manufacturers in mind. They are now available for immediate leasehold occupation.
  • Construction was funded from a new £2.5 million facility agreed with the Sheffield City Region (SCR) Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas (JESSICA) Fund.

The new units – a scheme of two terraces across three acres – forms part of Phase 2 of ‘R-evolution @ The AMP’ and builds on the award-winning scheme’s success by providing floorspace aimed at leading advanced manufacturers.  Phase 1 of R-evolution – 52,000 sq. ft of space built in 2014 – is fully occupied, with key occupiers including X-Cel Superturn and Metalysis.

The Advanced Manufacturing Park is already home to businesses that provide world-class technology solutions for use in precision industries including aerospace, defence, construction, automotive, sport and others.  Occupiers at the AMP include world-class organisations such as the AMRC, Boeing, Rolls Royce, Castings Technology International (CTI), Dormer Tools and Sandvik Coromant.  It forms part of Waverley – Yorkshire’s largest ever brownfield mixed-use development at 740 acres, where over 1m sq. ft of employment space and more than 650 homes have already been built and occupied.

These units are the latest that have been directly built by Harworth over the past twelve months. The company announced the completion in December of two new distribution units totalling 400,000 sq. ft at Logistics North in Bolton on behalf of M&G Real Estate, with Whistl taking a ten year lease on the first unit known as ‘Logistics 225’.  Harworth also recently completed a new 75,274 sq. ft unit – branded “Helix” – at Gateway 36 in Barnsley that is also available for leasehold occupation.

David Travis, Director of Business Space at Harworth Group, said: “We’re delighted with the quality of all six completed units and I want to express my continued thanks to both JF Finnegan and our appointed project team for another job well done.  We are now actively promoting these units for immediate leasehold occupation to advanced manufacturing and engineering companies wanting to be in close proximity to the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and the other high-value occupants of the AMP.”

The scheme will be marketed by jointly appointed agents Knight Frank and Gent Visick. Tom Swallow, Senior Surveyor at Knight Frank’s Sheffield office, added: “We are witnessing good levels of demand from occupiers looking for space on the Advanced Manufacturing Park.  The next phase of R-evolution offers flexibility to accommodate requirements from circa 5,000 to 26,000 sq. ft and with one of the units already under offer, we are confident that the scheme will prove successful given the lack of existing available space in the market.”

William Church, Director of CBRE Capital Advisors and Fund Manager for SCR JESSICA, added, “Following the success of Harworth’s previous SCR JESSICA supported developments, we are delighted to have funded the delivery of further speculative space at the Advanced Manufacturing Park. The provision of such space is fundamentally important infrastructure for the economic growth of the region given limited existing supply; supporting this growth is the purpose of the Fund.”

The SCR JESSICA Fund, which is made up of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Growing Places capital, aims to provide funding for projects at competitive commercial rates where funding might otherwise prove challenging in the current markets. The Fund will commit capital to regeneration opportunities with a focus on office and industrial developments which meet the ERDF’s targets on employment, remediation and floorspace outputs.  Qualifying developments should be under the control of the sponsor, commence development this year and must fall within the Sheffield City Region, which comprises; Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley, Doncaster, Chesterfield, North East Derbyshire, Bolsover, Bassetlaw and the Derbyshire Dales.  The Fund is managed by CBRE Capital Advisors.

The Harris Partnership, Burnley Wilson Fish, Barton Willmore, WYG, JPG, RSK, RBS Design and MRB all acted on behalf of Harworth in the planning and construction phases of these units.  HLW Keeble Hawson and Eversheds also acted as solicitors on Harworth’s behalf on the construction and funding phases.