Third incarnation on cards for Hunterston
Hunterston on the Firth of Clyde is a site intimately tied up with Scotland’s changing energy industry and the latest development in the site’s history signals an industrial shift in line with the times.
Located 40 miles west of Glasgow, the site is owned by Peel Ports Group and is being developed to move it away from its history, first as an ore processing centre and then as a coal port, to tackle projects as diverse as decommissioning energy infrastructure, recycling and building modern forms of power generation.
Gary Hodgson, strategic projects director, Peel Ports Group says: “This marks the third life of Hunterston and aims to make it fit for future energy industry use.”
Hunterston Ore Terminal, as it was first known, served as one of the most important deepwater ore and coal terminals in the world.
It was built between 1974 and 1979 primarily to supply the needs of the British Steel Corporation’s Scottish works, and was linked by rail to Ravenscraig Steelworks in Motherwell 40 miles inland.
Its construction included reclaiming 200 acres of land from the sea in a major engineering project.
JLL in Scotland has just been appointed to market Hunterston Port and Resource Centre (PARC) combining the Hunterston bulk terminal currently handling coal and other resources, the Hunterston marine yard with one of the largest dry docks in the country, two rail terminals and over 300 acres of development land.
Andrew Mccracken, director at JLL in Scotland says: “Hunterston PARC will be significant in supporting economic growth in Scotland, the rest of the UK and Europe.
“We expect the site to attract attention from prospective manufacturers, power generators and recyclers, as well as importers and exporters looking to tap into low cost, onsite power.”
Peel Ports Group is looking to attract partners and tenants to develop the site into an industrial cluster with multiple uses.
The aim is that Hunterston PARC will support the Scottish Government’s “circular economy” strategy, and offers potential for asset decommissioning and recycling, pre-fabrication and manufacturing, data storage, and power generation all on a single site alongside industrial research activities.
The 100-acre marine yard in particular has been earmarked as a suitable site for the future decommissioning of oil and gas structures – some of which may have been built here – as well as the construction of assets for the renewable energy sector.
Its deep-water dock is the only one in the UK capable of taking a fully loaded cape-sized vessel – the largest type of bulk carrier ship.
Mccracken says: “As we see a global shift towards new forms of energy production and processing, Hunterston is a site which, due to its existing infrastructure and prime geographical location has a key role to play in the future of the energy sector.”
Hunterston PARC is also equipped to handle and process chemicals including liquefied natural gas which is increasingly powering Scottish industry and transport.
With direct sea links to the Irish Sea the site has obvious deep-water links for global export and import trade.
Low-cost rail and road options link the site with central Scotland and beyond.
The site has a longstanding history in Scotland’s oil and gas industry and was used to complete the concrete gravity substructure for BP’S Harding Field and the gravity platform for the Maureen Field.
“Hunterston is a site which… has a key role to play in the future of the energy sector”
ANDREW MCCRACKEN DIRECTOR, JLL