Harworth acquires major development site near Newcastle (UK)

Harworth Estates, the UK property regeneration company owned by Harworth Group plc, has acquired the site of the former Lynemouth aluminium smelter near Newcastle-upon-Tyne from Rio Tinto.
The 320-acre (1.2 mln m²) Northumberland site, which is located near the coast, offers the potential for a range of future commercial development once the site has been fully masterplanned.
The acquisition of the site is Harworth’s second major non-coalfield acquisition and adds to its large portfolio of UK regeneration sites.
“Our marketing of the site attracted a great deal of interest from a wide range of sectors,” said Richard Anderson, Environment Manager at Rio Tinto. “After lengthy consideration and due diligence, we decided the offer from Harworth Estates gave the best prospect of securing sustainable long-term employment on the site given their exceptional track record of successfully regenerating redundant industrial sites.”
Since agreeing the sale, Rio Tinto has completed the decommissioning of the site. The decommissioning process has been led by Rio Tinto’s own team and has involved the removal of plant and machinery, the demolition of some buildings and cleaning the site to enable the return of its operating permit to industry regulator, the Environment Agency.
Source: Tavistock