Land sales to deliver 264 new homes at Harworth Group's flagship Rotherham scheme

Harworth Group plc, the brownfield regeneration and property investment specialist, has exchanged contracts on land sales totalling 13.87 net developable acres at its flagship Waverley site in Rotherham.

The sale, with two regional housebuilders for the next phase of residential development, had a combined price of around £11m.

Avant Homes will build 220 three and four bedroom family homes on 12.81 net acres of land it has purchased.

This deal follows its acquisition in February of 4.7 net acres where the housebuilder is already constructing 61 three and four bedroom homes.

Contracts have also been exchanged with Sky House Company (Waverley) Limited for 1.06 net acres of land.

Sky House, a ‘compact’ urban housebuilder based in Sheffield, will be developing Waverley’s first starter homes aimed at first time buyers, comprising 40 two-bedroom units and four, four-bedroom family homes.

The housebuilder will be employing its Sky-House concept - a re-imagining of Victorian ‘back-to-back’ terraced homes for modern day living.

These sales are another significant milestone at the 20 year regeneration scheme, where Harworth’s ongoing placemaking success has seen 700 homes built to date, alongside 1m sq ft of employment space at the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP).

The deals with Avant and Sky House follow the residential land sale of 8.17 net acres to national housebuilder Taylor Wimpey, for the delivery of 130 new homes, in June 2017.

Owen Michaelson, chief executive of Harworth, said: “These transactions provide further evidence of the momentum at Waverley, which is seeing it mature into one of the North of England’s most desirable mixed-use developments.

“Avant Homes’ decision to purchase a second land parcel from us at Waverley proves both the strength of Waverley as a location, their confidence in our ability to deliver sites ready for development and the popularity of their product locally.

“In addition, Sky House’s decision to develop innovative starter properties marks an exciting new phase that will add further vibrancy and density to Waverley, whilst also reflecting our desire for the development to offer a broad range of home types aimed at different parts of the market.

“Both deals also demonstrate the underlying strength of the residential market in the North of England, driven by comparatively low prices and a continued lack of housing land supply to meet the needs of a growing population. Harworth is uniquely placed to benefit from this, leveraging our market-leading masterplanning expertise.”

Rob Slocombe, managing director of Avant Homes Yorkshire, commented: “Securing our second development at Waverley is a key part of our strategic growth plans in Yorkshire.

“The success of our Sorby Row development at Waverley is testament to both the popularity of the location and the Avant Homes product and we are looking forward to revealing our detailed plans for the new site.”

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