Developer rejects Hosking’s bid for Springburn Works
WHAT has been described a‘multimillion pound’bid by Jeremey Hosking’s Locomotive Services Limited (LSL) to buy Glasgow’s Springburn Works site, has been rejected by the site’s owner, property developer Hansteen Holdings PLC.
LSL planned to buy the historic Caledonian Railway works, which dates back to 1854, as a Scottish base for storing and maintaining some of its growing fleet of heritage steam, diesel and electric locomotives.
Springburn would also have been developed as an operational depot to allow the company to expand its Scottish and Anglo-scottish main line operations. Up to 40 new jobs would have been created, and bosses said the continuity of railway operations at the historic site would have been maintained.
LSL managing director Tony Bush said: “Rumours that our bid has been rejected are correct, I am afraid to say. Hansteen has indeed declined our multi-million pound offer to acquire Springburn Works.
“It’s extremely disappointing and Hansteen has been far less engaged in dialogue than we had hoped.
“The site has significant liabilities and costs for a new owner to resolve. Despite that, we still submitted a very competitive offer for the facility which would have provided benefit to both ourselves and the local area.”
However, there may still be a glimmer of hope for, despite the initial rejection of the bid,tony added:“we haven’t given up, but, at the moment, the gulf between us and Hansteen’s expectations of value and our own are clearly too great.”
Nor might the rejection mean an end to LSL’S Scottish ambitions. The company, prior to its bid submission, had been in talks in case the Springburn bid faltered. LSL is keen to expand into Scotland and those talks will continue.
Glasgow City Council, which was keen to see railway continuity at Springburn and job creation to take place at the site, has expressed its disappointment, as have local politicians.
Scottish Enterprise, which encourages economic development in the country, had been in talks with LSL, but was unable to make any firm commitments unless the bid had been successful.
Hansteen did not respond to an invitation to comment on its rejection of LSL’S bid and, surprisingly, the Springburn site does not appear on the company’s industrial property listings on its website.
With the rejection of the LSL bid, its future, and that of its historic railway buildings, remains uncertain. Gemini Rail Services, Hansteen’s tenant, which carried out the last rolling stock maintenance at Springburn, will quit the works at the end of March.