The Port of Ardersier, a former fabrication yard spanning 700 acres in Whiteness near Nairn, has been put up for sale.
The site is being marketed by Valad Europe and JLL on behalf of Blair Nimmo and Tony Friar of KPMG LLP who were appointed joint administrators of Port of Ardersier Limited, the owner of the site, on 1 October 2015. The 700 acre site consists of 340 acres of developable area and a one kilometre long deep water harbour, which is protected by a sand and shingle spit.
Billed as a strategic development opportunity, the site has planning permission and adopted local development plan allocation for a variety of land uses including residential and marina, industrial, port related and associated renewable energy options.
Formerly operating as the McDermott Yard since the early 1970s, the site was used to construct offshore platforms for use in the North Sea oil and gas industry and employed 4,500 people at its peak operation, before the yard closed in 2001 following a fall in demand. Port of Ardersier Limited was granted consent by the Scottish Government in August 2014 to bring the site back into use which has been cleared and remediated.
In 2014 the Highland Council granted planning permission in principle to establish a port or port services for energy related uses, having previously granted permission for a residential-led mixed use development incorporating 2,000 houses, a hotel, 500 berth marina and retail and leisure facilities.
The site is close to Inverness Airport, which offers direct flight connections to London and central Europe, including Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. Mainline rail connections providing direct services to Edinburgh, Glasgow and London are located within Inverness city centre.
Blair Nimmo, Joint Administrator commented “We are pleased to bring the site to the market and expect a high level of interest. We are hopeful that, once sold, the site can become an important hub generating employment and revenue for the North of Scotland.”
Andrew Richardson, Head of UK Development at Valad Europe said: “In the past few years, we have established a strong track record working in partnership with administrators and other stakeholders to recover maximum value from similar situations. This type of work requires detailed knowledge of planning, environmental and strategic issues, particularly with regard to the local area.”
Jason Hogg, Head of Development Land, at JLL in Scotland said: “The Port of Ardersier offers a fantastic opportunity to purchase a large scale, remediated strategic site with a live planning consent for a mixed use development. Given the growth of renewable energy in the North of Scotland and the potential for an accelerated decommissioning of the oil and gas infrastructure in the North Sea, the site offers excellent medium to long-term planning potential for a variety of uses. Mixed development land opportunities of this scale are very few and far between in Scotland, particularly when set against one of the most beautiful backdrops in the UK.
“Once developed, the site will appeal to a wide range of potential buyers including international investors amid the increasing demand for renewable energy space”.
