Specialist developer Blueprint has sold around £1 million of industrial land to finance new eco developments in the East Midlands.

The partnership, which specialises in sustainable regeneration and quality design, owns hundreds of commercial properties stretching from The Fens to The Peak District.

It has sold four sites in Lincolnshire - Heckington for £345,000, Alford for £450,000, Bardney for £95,000 and North Somercoates for £185,000 - and will look at releasing more in future.

Blueprint will use the cash to build more projects, such as its sell-out residential success Green Street in Nottingham, the ultra green No.1 Nottingham Science Park and the mixed use Phoenix Square in Leicester. 

Nick Ebbs, Blueprint chief executive, said: "We have worked hard to add value to our industrial commercial portfolio, and we are now realising some of that added value to in order to realise funds to invest in new projects."

Chris Sinclair, Director at Innes England, who marketed the Lincolnshire land, said: "We put the portfolio out jointly with FHP and saw a high level of interest from local investors and property companies from outside the area. 

"We're extremely pleased with the outcome and are now in the process of running out another bundle soon."

Much of Blueprint's property profile comprises either offices or small light industrial units in Lincolnshire, or larger industrial units in North Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

Blueprint's public sector partners transferred the properties into Blueprint when it was set up, matched by cash from Aviva Investors' igloo Regeneration fund.

As such Blueprint probably can claim to be one of the UK's first local Asset Backed Vehicles and a precursor to several similar vehicles that are now under active consideration throughout the UK.

It has leveraged those assets to create the Nottingham Science Park extension, including two multi-award-winning buildings, No.1 Nottingham Science Park and the Highfields Automotive & Engineering Training Centre. 

Since then, Blueprint has also completed Leicester's digital media centre, Phoenix Square, a mix of independent cinema, digital arts, commercial and residential space. This year, it had astonishing success with its first 100 per cent residential project, Green Street in The Meadows, Nottingham, where all 38 properties sold off plan. 

More new projects are set to be announced this summer.