Chairman to depart after pivotal year for Harworth
The chairman of Rotherham property group Harworth, Jonson Cox, is to step down following a transformative year for the business in which is secured planning for major projects in the North.
Cox is running for re-election at today’s annual general meeting, for the last time. He will step down before the 2018 AGM.
He joined the board in 2010 to lead the former UK Coal plc through its 2012 restructuring, and led Coalfield Resources plc through its 2015 acquisition of Harworth Estates Property Group Limited, before becoming a non-executive chairman of the Harworth Group.
Lisa Clement, senior independent director, said of the departure of Cox: “Jonson has served Harworth for seven years.
“These seven years have seen Harworth, or UK Coal plc as it was then known, evolve from a near-insolvent, over leveraged mining business with a capital constrained and non-performing property portfolio to a successful, ambitious and growing property company, delivering an annual double-digit return over the past four years.
“On behalf of the Board and all of our employees, I thank Jonson enormously for his significant contribution to the Company and leadership during this time.”
The news follows a transformative year for Harworth, after securing a resolution to grant planning consent for 1.45 million sq ft of employment space at the former Kellingley colliery in April 2017.
It entered a 80/20 joint venture with Lancashire County Pension Fund to develop the next phase of the Company’s Logistics North development in Bolton, the largest commercial property development in the North West. It is expected to deliver 10 commercial units totalling about 564,000sq metres across 31.2 acres
Consent was also secured for 19,000 sq ft of employment space at Swadlincote in Derbyshire for a new leisure scheme.
Harworth said it was moving into the final seven months of the year “with confidence” as demand for housing and commercial space remains strong.
