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Social landlords pick up hundreds of plots from South Yorkshire developer
Torus and Great Places Housing Group bought hundreds of residential plots of land from a South Yorkshire developer in the last quarter of 2024.
The sales will result in the delivery of both affordable and build-to-rent properties at sites across the North of England.
Developer Harworth Group sold to Torus 295 plots at Moss Nook in St Helens, Merseyside, which will deliver a combination of build-to-rent and affordable housing.
The scheme will include two, three and four-bedroom family homes, in addition to mews-type properties and apartments.
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Developer Watkin Jones will deliver the homes as part of a regeneration project in the area, which will also see a major spine road built through the site to connect it to the centre of St Helens.
In October, Steve Coffey, group chief executive of Torus, called for a “more rounded approach” to valuing public assets released for new affordable housing.
Harworth also sold 282 plots to Great Places and Homes by Honey, a Sheffield-based house builder.
The plots are in Pheasant Hill Park, on the former Rossington colliery site in South Yorkshire, which is part of a broader regeneration project called Gateway to Sheffield.
Great Places reported that it had missed its development starts target for the second quarter of the 2024-25 financial year, although its August update for the first quarter revealed that it was on track to meet its full-year development target.
These recent sales helped Harworth reach what it said was a record of 1,896 residential plot sales, with a sales value of £71.7m.
Harworth’s largest residential transaction in Q4 was at its Coalville development in Leicestershire, where it sold 357 plots to Taylor Wimpey.
It also sold 530 plots at Simpson Park in Nottinghamshire to Stonebridge and Bellway Homes.
Harworth more than doubled its residential plot sales in 2024, with the total rising from 1,170 in 2023 to 2,385 last year.
Lynda Shillaw, chief executive of Harworth, said: “We are committed to delivering sustainable regeneration schemes, creating new communities in our regions, and supporting delivery of much-needed high-quality housing in the UK by accelerating delivery at our sites and broadening the range of our mixed-tenure products, the latter seeing 582 of the year’s plots sales to affordable housing providers.
“Our approach to placemaking and strong collaboration with strategic partners is key to success on these developments, and our extensive consented pipeline of 4,568 plots positions us well to continue supporting growth in the UK.”
In July 2024, Harworth, one of TopHat’s creditors, launched a winding-up petition against the modular house builder, which was settled out of court.
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