Harworth Group Completes 40-Acre Strategic Land Sale to Tritax Big Box Developments in St Helens

Harworth Group plc has completed the sale of a 40-acre strategic land site in St Helens, Merseyside to Tritax Big Box Developments, with the transaction priced in line with book value, the company announced Sept. 18.

The site sits within the Liverpool City Region Freeport and carries direct access to Junction 22 of the M6, near the M62 interchange — a corridor that has drawn sustained demand from large-scale industrial and logistics operators. The land is allocated in the St Helens Local Plan and is expected to form part of Tritax Big Box Developments' plans for its Intermodal Logistics Park North Strategic Rail Freight Interchange.

Deal Rationale and Strategic Context

Harworth characterized the transaction as consistent with its effort to build a simpler, lower-cost and higher-returning platform. Jonathan Haigh, Chief Investment Officer at Harworth, said the deal "demonstrates continued strong demand for industrial & logistics strategic land and evidences Harworth's acceleration of key initiatives to create a simpler, lower-cost and higher-returning platform."

"By crystallising value from a mature strategic land asset, we are now able to recycle the capital into higher-returning opportunities aligned to powered land and industrial growth sectors," Haigh added.

The St Helens parcel fits the profile of assets Harworth has described as mature strategic land — sites that have reached planning and allocation milestones and can be monetized to fund deployment into higher-returning opportunities. The company has reported an average annual return on capital employed of around 24% across its industrial and logistics activities over the past three years.

Harworth's Industrial and Powered-Land Pivot

The St Helens disposal is part of a broader repositioning Harworth has pursued since 2021, progressively shifting its portfolio toward industrial, logistics and powered land. As of June 30, 2026, industrial and logistics assets accounted for 71% of Harworth's land and property portfolio, which stood at £936.5 million in total value.

Harworth's industrial and logistics and powered-land platform spans 34.8 million square feet, with accepted power offers of 0.8 gigawatts and a consented pipeline of 8.3 million square feet. Since 2021, the company has secured 9.2 million square feet of planning approvals representing approximately £1.3 billion in gross development value, completed 7.6 million square feet of development and land sales, and has 6.0 million square feet of land with servicing or enabling works underway.

The company has signaled an intention to exit residential entirely and operate as a pure-play powered-land and industrial logistics platform. For the first half of 2026, Harworth reported a negative total accounting return of 3.7%, with residential valuation declines weighing on performance while industrial and logistics values held broadly stable — a dynamic that underscores the strategic logic of accelerating the portfolio shift.

Recent Disposals and Capital Recycling Pattern

The St Helens transaction follows a series of disposals Harworth has executed as part of its capital recycling strategy. Following the first half of 2026, the company sold Etherow Industrial Estate for £8.1 million, at a 3% premium to book value. Harworth has also progressed its first hyperscale powered-land sale to Microsoft at Skelton Grange and entered exclusivity with a second data-center provider on another hyperscale site.

The pattern across these transactions — monetizing stabilized or mature assets at or above book value and redeploying proceeds into powered-land and large-format logistics opportunities — is consistent with the framing Harworth applied to the St Helens sale.

Selling at book value on the St Helens site also serves to validate the carrying values in Harworth's industrial and logistics land book at a time when residential valuations have faced pressure, providing a market reference point for the broader portfolio.

Tritax Big Box Developments and the Intermodal Logistics Park North

For Tritax Big Box Developments, the acquisition adds a strategically located parcel to its plans for the Intermodal Logistics Park North Strategic Rail Freight Interchange. The site's position within the Liverpool City Region Freeport and its proximity to the M6 and M62 interchange make it well-suited for rail-connected, large-scale logistics development.

The transaction also coincides with a period of corporate activity around Harworth. Peel Bidco has made repeated acquisition approaches to the company, including a revised £600 million offer that Harworth rejected. Harworth has pointed to transactions such as the St Helens sale as evidence of its ability to realize value from its portfolio independently.

Sources

Harworth Group plc — Transaction Announcement, Sept. 18, 2026