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[smithie6] 04/12/2020 11:50

Does HSP obtain much turnover in Germany ?

seems strange for a UK coal sector co. to invest in a pulverisation plant in Germany, rather than a local German coal producer or coal user. ???

(HSP details for coal, I know almost nothing....I have mostly been looking at the housing/warehouse/land projects)

[smithie6] 04/12/2020 11:35

the biggest open cast mine in Europe is at
Niederzier, 52382, Alemania

1 hr 10 minutes by car from the centre of Duisberg. I assume that the pulverisation plant is well outside of Duisberg, so the distance to Niederzier might be less or more that 1 hour 10 minutes

It looks like quite a region for coal/lignite mining....although how much of that is running I dont know.

I understand that the Niederzier open cast mine produces a notable % of the power consumption of Germany so it is not easy to turn it off.

------

I guess that other mines in the region are also producing lignite ??
or maybe the Niederzier one is the only one since it is so big it beats everyone on price per tonne.

---

the HSP AR talks of pulverising coal & coke so it is phps not used for pulverising lignite; one guess is that pulverising is used where the client can accept the treatment cost per tonne as part of offerring a higher performance product, phps where the end customer needs a high burning power per tonne per second, (pulverising produces a much larger surface area, so the surface area open to oxygen is much higher, so it burns with more power/intensity I believe & there is less unburnt fuel...)

(the response time to obtaining more heat/power is also obviously quicker; if you chuck on lumps of coal/coke then obviously it takes longer to heat up & burn

the burning chemistry for pulverised coal/coke is phps also better than for lumps

happy to be corrected by anyone who knows the details...

[smithie6] 04/12/2020 10:54

carbon pulverisation

from 2019 AR

"To balance the reliance on short-term trading
opportunities which, by their nature, offer
limited forward trading visibility, in 2017 HRMS
management determined to invest in the
construction of a Carbon Pulverisation Plant.
The rationale was to establish a strategic
production asset to improve forward trading
visibility. The plant has been constructed close
to the HRMS offices in Duisburg, Germany, a key
hub for Central Europe which enjoys numerous
logistical advantages. It will process carbon-
based raw materials, including coal and coke,
into a pulverised carbon product which will
offer customers logistical, technical and cost
advantages over alternative materials. The plant
will have a capacity of about 400,000 tonnes per annum

Construction is nearing completion. Initial
production supplies are due to commence in the
autumn with the plant expected to build towards
full production over the next two to three years.
Funding has been provided by a ten-year loan
from a German bank (€15m) together with a €3m
loan from Hargreaves Services plc over the same
period. The additional funds required have been
provided from retained profits in HRMS."

From the MD in July 2019

======

so, biggish investment

& the preparation of the Blindwells site was also a big investment, £20-25 million if includes plans, advisor costs for the plans, project workers,

will we now see money/profits coming back in from those investments ?
(well, £9-10million expected/due in coming months from initial land sale at Blindwells, subject to meeting some reqts. (putting in the road ??); it's a good start

[smithie6] 04/12/2020 09:27

today is the 4th

Monday will be the 7th

& the public meeting (via internet) is schedlued for 6pm on the 9th.

imo they can't release the plans on Monday & then have the web meeting on Wednesday, the days are too close together.
So, phps there is a high chance that the meeting will be re-scheduled for a new date.

[smithie6] 04/12/2020 09:23

good luck

-----

here is a link to the Blindwells website, for the public consultation about the updated plans for the site

www.blindwellsconsultation.co.uk

The plans were supposed to be on Wednesday, today is Friday, are the plans finally there ?

just looked, not there !!

[netcurtains] 04/12/2020 08:09

If anyone is interested I sold a couple of days ago. Thanks for all the info. I Might well be back later.

[smithie6] 03/12/2020 20:41

ok

...it was loss making..£1 cost
...well the mngrs must have had a plan for turning it around...& they have repeatedly written 'expect a divi from it in 2021 & afterwards' (12.5p), be interesting to see if their turn around plan has worked

[castleford tiger] 03/12/2020 20:02

Well it was bought for €1
T/o was 130 m but loss making

Plenty of information about the company.
I would post but time stressed at the moment.
Tiger

[smithie6] 03/12/2020 14:38

moving away from the land sector

does anyone know much about the HSP investment in 'carbon crushing' in Germany ?

such as
- what is it about ?
- where is the machine/facility ?
- how far is it from the site of the end user/customer ?
- how far does the material travel to get to the HSP machine/facility ?
- how much as been invested ?
- over how many years ?
- HSP has owned or operated such equipment before ?
- are there competing facilities ?

[muckshifter] 02/12/2020 19:53

Well, I just had a look at the website Smithie6, and must admit I don't like it either.

[smithie6] 02/12/2020 14:22

hmmmm

I think my criticism is about spot on.

If you seek out & talk to the press to promote the launch of updated/new plans for a "newtown" & a public consultation process for those updated plans & give a specific date for the launch of a web site specific for those new plans & the consultation

then

imo you score 0/10 or -10/10
if
- you dont present/provide the updated plans on the date that you yourself promised only days before

- your feedback/opinion form on that "consultation website" is not yet there & working.


=========

part of the overall process of applying for planning permission & later on for someone to sell homes

is trust & confidence & being serious/trustworthy/responsable

otherwise you will not get planning permission !!

so, not presenting the plans to the public & all interested parties (including Bellway & other possible land buyers) on the promised date that you yourself promised just 1 week before !!, fails those things.

======

although arguably missing the stated public issuing date of the new plans is not a critical item in itself.....it is a bad representation of the project & the company imo

& presentation & image & trust is important for such a big project; a town with schooling, shop(s) etc, ; its not just 5 houses....a council wouldn't entrust it to 'Joe the builder' from around the corner.

----

if that same newspaper issues a short article mentioning that the consultation schedule has started but that the updated plans remain unpublished/secret, & the feedback form doesnt work.... it won't do the project any good, imo :-(

[muckshifter] 02/12/2020 13:37

Perhaps you're over reacting a little there Smithie6. It's disappointing but may have an innocent explanation - hopefully. My buy, a few weeks ago, was based on the almost "certainty" in my mind that the completion of the first two plots at Blindwells would happen by Christmas, and if it didn't I'd be very sceptical about Blindwells. The original expectation (or at least the one which was current before Covid) was for completion before the end of HSP year in May 20. It was then delayed for three months by a covid stoppage, so my reckoning is that HSP have had an extra 7 months to deal with any other aspects of finalising the deal while the work on site was both stopped and then restarted and completed - that is the reason I'm reasonably confident, despite not having a very high opinion of HSP management.

[robsy2] 02/12/2020 11:54

Hmmh doesn’t sound very good. Thanks for sharing though. This site must have the best informed and sharing investors on advfn. If some of you have some spare time , maybe you could give the folk at HSP a hand!!

[smithie6] 02/12/2020 09:44

HSP website says

"Our bespoke consultation site provides the very latest information on our proposals and will be accessible from the 2nd December 2020, here: www.blindwellsconsultation.co.uk "

well, today is the 2nd of December
but no information at all !!
is presented

even though the website has gone live

[smithie6] 02/12/2020 09:29

HSP also promoted today as the launch date for the website & revealing the updated Blindswell plans in the press

hxxps://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news/18899806.latest-plans-town-centre-blindwells-unveiled-next-week/

"Information will go live at hargreaves land.com/project/blindwells on Wednesday, with a live public webinar held via Zoom 6-7pm on December 9"

but

today is that Wednesday

& the information is NOT there as promised/advertised !!

------

also, with the public webinar on 9th December there is no time for delays in presenting the updated plans

otherwise the date of the public webinar might have to be moved back, to comply with the law.

:-(

[smithie6] 02/12/2020 09:02

Blindwells website has gone live today.

To present the more detailed & updated plans for the Blindwells project.

www.blindwellsconsultation.co.uk

Which HSP Land have publicised in advance via Twitter & the local press & on the HSP website &.....

Probably also publicised by their marketing agency (is it Blaze or is that for the Hatfield project?)

My opinion ?

0/10.
Personally, if I was the land develop. director of HSP I would sack or remove the manager responsable. And if I was the MD of HSP I might have a quiet word with the land develop. director to get his division in order.

====

1) the awaited updated plans are NOT presented !!

so, all visitors to the reveal of this new website today
....will be dissapointed.

Why dissapoint your potential customers, council contacts, council approval staff for the project plans ??!!

incompetence.

2) opinion form

"Our online feedback form will be added in the coming days, ...."

ie. the opinion/feedback form is not there !

How can a public consultation process based on using the internet with no physical public meeting ('cause of Covid19) , take place if there is no opinion/feedback form ?!

incompetence

Why make a new website go live when the important parts of it are NOT there & you have to tell the site visitor that they are not there.

If the website is not ready (its not, there is NO information presented, none ! not even the old plans !) then keep it off-line until it is ready & the front page can say "coming on ______"
but on that date it really should be provided, & mostly finished.
If you want to appear as organised, skilled, experienced & professional then one needs to act like that.
Or if you want to appear disorganised & not fulfulling your promises then act like that. :-(

3) the address to where to send a letter with your opinions is an address in a Belfast, which is not even in Scotland !.
That is disrespectful imo for perhaps the biggest housing project in Scotland, which I assume needs to avoid upsetting the Scottish Parliament only 12 miles away. & ~50% of the Scots adults voted for independence.

It also gives a bad image about the consultation process being a local process which is interested in the views of local people. (pre-Covid the public consultation would have included a public meeting close to the site & with no mention of a distant address such as Belfast). An address in Belfast looks a bit like slopy shoulders imo.

(& HSP has an office address in Edinburgh it could have used, I think it has moved its office from Glasgow to Edinburgh to be closer to the Blindwells site; why is that address not used ? Or if an independant 3rd party must be use then surely a Scottish one could have been used or the local council address.

[smithie6] 01/12/2020 18:07

well, we both knew it was a 50:50 JV

:-)


-----

only by looking & reading does one find out stuff
.....& personally I know a lot more now about Hargreaves (& especially its 2 biggest land develop. projects) than I did 2 weeks ago. Big by bit.

(still have to try to find out what the German carbon crusher investment is about (& how much has been invested) & try to guestimate if it will make notable profits wrt the size of HSP, the bod expect it to)

& happy to be holding. risk/reward looks good to me
:-)

[muckshifter] 01/12/2020 17:03

No surprises there for me then Smithie6, looks like your evaluation efforts need a revamp!

[smithie6] 01/12/2020 15:29

Hatfield-Unitygate project

btw

I was wrong in thinking that Hargreaves 100% owned all the land, oops !
they don't.
& both Hargreaves & Weystone apparently contributed material assets to the 50:50 JV.

Any other details are commercial & not public.

[smithie6] 01/12/2020 08:27

interesting

(Scilly isles) must be lovely there for much of the year, especially in the summer

[netcurtains] 01/12/2020 08:10

Smithie6: Nothings colder than the water around the Scilly Isles:

[smithie6] 30/11/2020 17:48

there is a small lake in the Blindswell plan (& on the area map on Google)

& option to have one at the Hatfield site

I don't know if a wakeboard pull wire loop would be viable or wanted ?!!

(colder water in Scotland...drysuits ?)

[smithie6] 30/11/2020 17:36

(I'll be interested to see if any flats are added to the Blindswell plan
(eg. 3 levels, 4-6 flats per floor)
...to provide starter homes for people under 30 or on lower wages.

(with a higher price per m2 for the (HSP) land used)

[smithie6] 30/11/2020 17:15

Benbain

I tried to find some info

& find this

(btw its owned by Scottish Forestry I think, not HSP)

"The wind farm’s construction “would overlap with works the council had intended to fund”, McDowell said. As such, restoration efforts would be “scaled down to areas not impacted by the wind farm proposal”, with hopes of commencing in 2020."

-----

Ayrshire
looks like NPL own some industrial sites with possibilities for regeneration, & the county council seems interested/co-operative (as I assume any council would be)

but yes, as you say, a site's value depends a lot on the location of the site, & costs to prepare it for commercial/business/housing use.

Of the HSP sites the Blindswell one looks the most valueable per hectare (9 million paid for 11 acres; ) being just 12 miles from the ctr of Edinburgh & next to the A1 & 1.1 miles from a train station.
While the site near Hatfield touches a motorway junction, & has a train station at one edge of the site/land. (25 million being paid for 32 hectares for a warehouse;

[smithie6] 30/11/2020 17:15

Benbain

I tried to find some info

& find this

(btw its owned by Scottish Forestry I think, not HSP)

"The wind farm’s construction “would overlap with works the council had intended to fund”, McDowell said. As such, restoration efforts would be “scaled down to areas not impacted by the wind farm proposal”, with hopes of commencing in 2020."

-----

Ayrshire
looks like NPL own some industrial sites with possibilities for regeneration, & the county council seems interested/co-operative (as I assume any council would be)

but yes, as you say, a site's value depends a lot on the location of the site, & costs to prepare it for commercial/business/housing use.

A) Of the HSP sites the Blindswell one looks the most valueable per hectare (9 million paid for 11 acres; £2.0 million per hectare, subject to ?......) being just 12 miles from the ctr of Edinburgh & next to the A1 & 1.1 miles from a train station.
There is I think a 15 acre plot for sale.

new website with new/updated info goes live on 2nd Dec.

only a few days to go

some changes or updates to previous plans are expected.....since the notice basically says so !, since a lot of things have changed since the last plan of 5 years ago.

B) While the site near Hatfield touches a motorway junction, & has a train station at one edge of the site/land. (25 million being paid for 32 hectares for a warehouse (!!!!); £0.78 million/hectare; subject a road existing to the plot.

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yes, for residential/logistics warehouse use these 2 sites look to have a lot more pluses than some other ex-mining sites.....& the sale prices for some of the land shows that

(one thing I like about these 2 projects is the size of the projects, when you can house so many people (Blindwells 6500 people ?, if the 2 phases are built) over a large site then there is a demand from these people for buying milk, food, hot food, a pub(s), & HSP could get a higher price per m2 for selling those m2, or charge a rent rather than sell the freehold.