PART of a planned industrial park, which is set to create 800 jobs as a whole, has been sold off to another developer.

Tungsten Properties has paid £7.07 million to Opus North for a 10.4 acre section of its Interchange 26 development at Oakenshaw, near Cleckheaton.

The new manufacturing and logistics park as a whole is located at the 57-acre former North Bierley Water Treatment Works, and Opus North has been carrying out enabling works ahead of submitting a reserved matters application to Kirklees Council for the remainder of the site.

Opus North bought the redundant site for an undisclosed sum last year from Keyland Developments, the property trading arm of Kelda Group and sister company to Yorkshire Water.

The former owners had already secured outline planning consent from Kirklees Council for a commercial development of around 400,000 sq ft of industrial and employment space.

In announcing its recent purchase of around a fifth of the site, Tungsten Properties said that subject to reserved matters planning approval, it will begin construction of what it calls "Super B", a development of a 230,000 sq ft unit in the first quarter of 2021. The speculative development is expected to be completed by summer 2021.

The site itself is at the intersection of the M62 and M606 and Opus North is preparing to start development on Phase 1 of the park, with a 100,000 sq ft unit and a 50,000 sq ft unit.

Ian Dunckley, development director, Tungsten Properties, said: “Having acquired this site from Opus North, we are looking forward to speculatively developing another big box in Yorkshire to provide exceptional workspace and jobs. Working with Savills we have noticed an opportunity in West Yorkshire where there has been a long-standing shortage of high-quality industrial space and, combined with the strong level of demand from occupiers, we believe this asset will generate significant interest.”

Ryan Unsworth, development director, Opus North, added: “This transaction proves the strength of this location as one of the primary industrial locations in the North of England, and vindicates our decision to buy the site unconditionally in 2019. Working with Kirklees Council we will submit reserved matters applications for the remaining balance of our site and develop these units out for local occupiers”.

Changes to the planning conditions on the outline approval for the wider site were approved by Council planners last month.

The move, by Opus North, will allow work on Interchange 26 to begin in a "more timely manner". In documents, Opus North stated: "It has always been the intention for the site to be delivered in phases, due to its scale and because its delivery is subject to the market and commercial interest.”

It adds that the phasing allows potential occupiers more control over the design.