Sale of steelworks land funds £12m investment

An aerial view shows what the new buildings could look like on the site

Tata Steel says the sale of old steelworks land will fund a £12m investment in the local steel industry.

The 99-acre site in Corby, Northamptonshire, has been sold to a real estate developer.

Tata Steel said that a "fully-serviced campus-style logistics hub" would be created on the land at Weldon Road.

The Corby works manager said the deal would create "exciting employment opportunities for generations to come".

The steel sector in Corby once employed thousands of workers in Corby, but the figure now is about 500.

The town was devastated by the closure of most of its steelworks in the 1970s and 1980s, leading to an unemployment rate of 30%.

More steel sites have closed in the last few decades.

The West Works site will become a "fully-serviced campus-style logistics hub"

Warmflame Developments has been working on the sale of the "complex" redundant West Works site for the last seven years.

Managing director Paul Hodge said: "It is great to see so much hard work finally come to fruition, and it’s especially rewarding to contribute to the steelworks - which is synonymous with Corby - moving into the next phase of its lifecycle."

An artist's impression shows what the finished site could look like

Gary Blackman, Tata Steel’s works manager for Corby, added: "We are already well progressed with a £30m investment programme in Corby – one of the largest in the site’s history.

"The sale of the old West Works land will now fund the regeneration and development of one of our warehouses on the East Works into a world-class complex of offices, stores and engineering workshops, and upgrade one of our tubes finishing lines."