Demolition imminent on vast Scottish factory that was never commissioned.
The vacant factory at Halbeath was taken over by the Shepherd Offshore Group in November last year and on Monday night the English renewables company confirmed it will be brought down in a matter of weeks.
The group, fronted by former Newcastle United FC chairman Freddie Shepherd, said they have to demolish the million-square-foot site as it was “never commissioned” and they have been in talks with a view to a company taking over the running of the site.
Hyundai had intended to build a semiconductor plant but this never materialised, despite it spending around £80 million installing utilities at the Dunfermline site. Motorola took it over, promising around 1,350 jobs, but again this fell by the wayside. Then US high-tech firm Zoom Diversified expressed interest, with the prospect of bringing around 1000 jobs, but it dropped its proposals for a solar cell operation. The Scottish Government had offered £10 million to Zoom through Regional Selective Assistance.
The Shepherd Offshore Group bought the site last year and is progressing its plans. A spokesman said plant and machinery had now been auctioned and the way is clear for the site to be demolished.
“Hopefully this will give us a good indication of what lies in store,” he said. “It is basically the pain before the gain. We will be taking the building down. It is a bit strange, as the building was never commissioned. We’ll basically be knocking it down and rebuilding it. People will look at it and see that as a bit unusual but it’s not a warehouse.”
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