North East development firm Banks Property, part of the Banks Group, is increasing its focus across Yorkshire after setting up a new office in the county.
The family-owned firm has established a new business hub in Garforth which will be used by several members of its team who live in different parts of Yorkshire as well as by colleagues from its headquarters who are working on local projects.
Banks has a long track record of successful Yorkshire developments across its property, renewable energy and mining businesses, and after being granted planning permission last year for the 130-home Castle Hill Farm project in Harrogate, it is now actively working on a range of schemes as it looks to increase its project portfolio across the county.
Key areas of interest include Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster and Bradford, while the business is already looking at a number of sites that are coming forward as part of the draft local plan for Wakefield.
The Banks Group has previously developed wind farms near Sheffield, Barnsley and Rotherham, worked and restored a number of surface coal mines around the county during the 1990s and 2000s, and developed housing schemes in Sheffield and at Methley near Leeds.
Rob Ormrod, Yorkshire land manager at Banks Property and past president of the Yorkshire Association of Agricultural Valuers, says: “The Banks Group already has extensive experience of working throughout the county, and it makes clear commercial and organisational sense for us to be extending our property presence here.
“We have delivered high-quality, large-scale residential developments throughout the North of England and Scotland, and will use this experience to help provide the increased supply of new homes that Yorkshire needs to allow people to stay in or move to key conurbations like Wakefield, Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster and Bradford.
“Progressing the Castle Hill Farm scheme at Harrogate is the first stage of building a sustainable portfolio of residential developments across Yorkshire and we already have a number of different schemes in the pipeline in different locations that we will be bringing forward this year.
“Establishing a new office here is a key landmark in our progression in the county and will give our team a physical base from which they can work towards realising the business’s objectives in Yorkshire.”