£80m investment from South Yorkshire Pensions Authority boosts local economy

South Yorkshire Pensions Authority (SYPA) has invested £80m in local development loans into the South Yorkshire economy as part of the organisations ongoing commitment to Place Based Impact Investment. This approach was initially agreed in 2019 but then put on hold by the pandemic, but since then has gone from strength to strength.

The loans support and help to deliver three key priorities for the region including the regeneration and re-use of brownfield land, construction of new housing to diversify housing supply across the area, and generation of new employment.

The loans made by SYPA, working alongside other partners including the JESSICA Fund and Homes England, in some cases have delivered against all these aims, including bringing redundant buildings back into use with consequent carbon savings.

The loans have seen the redevelopment of an 11-acre site on Greenland Road in Sheffield (pictured above) to create 191,150 sq. ft of industrial and logistics space, as well as contributing to the regeneration of an existing 130,750 sq. ft former B&Q warehouse and developing 58,000 sq. ft of new industrial units.

They also have seen a landmark Sheffield site brought back into use with a £10.7m loan to developer Capital and Centric to support the building out of the iconic Grade II listed Eyewitness and Ceylon Works sites on Milton Street Sheffield.

Working with Homes England the Authority’s funding will allow the development of 97 loft apartments and town houses, along with a 900 sq. ft café-bar, while preserving the fabric of an important site for Sheffield’s industrial heritage, at the heart of a new neighbourhood.

A £5.8m loan has facilitated the redevelopment of 82,500 sq. ft of industrial space across three units at the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham, also a former colliery site.

With another loan of £6.8m loan that has funded the development of the next phase of Gateway 36, 110,000 sq. ft of industrial space across three units, located just off Junction 36 of the M1. This is Phase 2A of the wider master plan to redevelop the former Rockingham Colliery.

The portfolio was initially agreed at £80m (then 1 per cent of the value of the Fund) and is now set to grow to £100m.

The latest investment to be signed off was a £34m development loan approved for the Trammell Crow Company to deliver a grade A logistics scheme in Sheffield. The Authority have over £40m of local investment loans in the pipeline for developments in Doncaster, Sheffield and Barnsley for 2023/2024.

Councillor John Mounsey, the chair of the South Yorkshire Pensions Authority, said: “It is rewarding to see the Pensions Authority use its power as an investor to help with a number of developments across South Yorkshire, boosting the regions’ economy while making the returns we need to pay our members pensions.”

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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