Three property schemes in northern England will receive multi-million pound investment from China, Chancellor George Osborne has announced.

£1.2bn will be pumped into Scarborough Group-led schemes in Leeds, Salford and Sheffield by Hualing Industry and Trade Group. As a result of the investment, 18,000 jobs and 10,000 new homes are expected to be created.

Osborne is currently on a trade visit to China partly aimed at drumming up funding for his so-called “Northern Powerhouse” project. 

The three schemes are as follows: Middlewood Locks, a £730m residential project in Salford incorporating a total of 2,000 residential units and about 750,000 sq ft of commercial accommodation; Thorpe Park, a £400m mixed-use project in Leeds; and Sheffield Digital Campus, a £40m commercial and office development that will see 130,000 sq ft of office space built in the city.

“As a family business with its roots in the north of England, we are now very proud to bring our partners in China to the UK to invest in our great northern cities and to accelerate the development of our major projects in Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield,” Kevin McCabe, Scarborough Group Chairman, commented. 

“Our partnership with the Hualing Group is a new and exciting one for Scarborough and we look forward to working with them over the coming years to bring our northern projects to fruition,” he added.

Osborne said the UK is “building an ever closer relationship with China, a partnership that is set to unleash growth and help regions like Xinjiang where we know investment can make a real difference”. He added: “It will also help to unleash new growth back home, in places like our own Northern Powerhouse.”

The leader of Sheffield City Council, Julie Dore, welcomed the news and hoped “additional investment from China” would follow as a result of the trade delegation.

She commented: “The Digital Campus has been extremely successful in developing new technological businesses in Sheffield and this investment will allow us to take this scheme forward to ensure we remain at the cutting edge of new developments well into the 21st Century.”