A large-scale site in Dunfermline, at one time to be used by Hyundai, is to be demolished shortly.
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.
Unused plant and machinery was recently sold by Troostwijk Auctions and now the site will be cleared in line to be rebuilt again. The auctioned plant and machinery included four 6000kW boilers, three 1800kVA diesel-driven alternators and three 820 litre-per-hour pure steam generators.
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 1350 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.
“There are a lot of positive things happening in the area with Amazon moving in, the bidder for the new Forth Bridge just announced and the building of the aircraft carriers at Rosyth. We are a small part of that and have been in talks with people about taking the Dunfermline site over.”
And he confirmed that the site will be demolished in a few weeks’ time.
“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.”