AROUND 20 to 30 “big” international investors are interested in taking up plots on the vast former steelworks site, a meeting has heard.

Work to demolish infrastructure on the vast Teesworks has continued in recent months.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen told the latest South Tees Development Corporation board (STDC) the remnants of the BOS plant would be the last thing to be blown down in June.

But he also told Thursday’s meeting how much interest there’d been from investors at the moment after a question from former Stockton chief executive Neil Schneider.

Read more: RSPCA help seal pups who became separated from their mums

Mr Houchen said there was a “refreshed register” of businesses which had approached them.

He added: “In loose terms, we’ve had expressions of interest from 100 businesses.

“Some have dropped off that list but we’ve had new enquiries.

“All of it to date has been reactive – getting into the new year, there is a big campaign to start marketing Teesworks and the Freeport and being much more proactive.

“That (100) is a slightly inflated number in that they’ve expressed interest.

“But I think all of them, except for a handful, are international investors, of which there are between 20 and 30 big investors that are either at heads of terms negotiations, or are in legals with us.”

The Conservative mayor said some of the 20 to 30 firms with interest would “drop off naturally” if heads of terms couldn’t be agreed.

He added: “Of all of those serious enquiries – the tangible ones we’re dealing with on a daily and weekly basis – all of them are international investors.

“From that point, that’s been really helpful but then that causes us to be more reactive on the site about plots of land we’re remediating and certain businesses are looking at certain plots of land largely for commercial needs.

“Some need to be next to the quay, some can be further back – some don’t need to be in the Freeport zone and some do want to be in there.”

Work on the South Bank quay has started with the meeting hearing 20 to 25 inch cylinders were to be piled into the ground in January.

It’s understood a number of the 20 to 30 firms are from the offshore wind, manufacturing, and automotive sectors.

Delays to General Electric’s turbine factory deals and designs emerged in the aftermath of Thursday’s STDC meeting.

The plant has been earmarked to create 750 jobs with work to start in 2023.

On Friday, a spokesperson for GE said: “GE Renewable Energy’s LM Wind Power business is currently facing delays in the finalisation of the leasing agreement and design to open its new blade manufacturing plant in Teesside, England.

“GE Renewable Energy continues to work actively with local and national stakeholders, and its customers on this specific project.”

In response, Mr Houchen said “nothing had changed” and GE had won contracts on the basis they make them on Teesside.

On Thursday he told the STDC board GE negotiations were “going well”.

The mayor said: “They’re now looking at their next generation of blades which are even bigger and a slightly different style that they’re testing up in Blyth as we speak.

“There is a slight redesign of their specification which looks like the facility is potentially going to be even bigger than originally envisaged so the lease negotiations, legals and specification continue to run at pace, and hopefully we’ll have some more progress in January on that.”

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

You can also follow our dedicated Teesside Facebook page for all the latest in the area by clicking here.

For all the top news updates from right across the region straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on newsdesk@nne.co.uk or contact 01325 505054