The mill is sold. The heating bill is why it took four years.

This is fictional sample content, created to demonstrate the layout. The places, people and figures in it are invented. It is not reporting.

Thornfield Mill has 41,000 square feet of floor space, a roof that was replaced in 2016, and a heating system designed for a process that stopped in 1994.

Every buyer wanted the space. None wanted the plant, and none could get a straight answer on what replacing it would cost, because the answer depended on what the building would be used for.

The circularity is the story. A lender wants a costed plan. A costed plan needs a use. A use needs planning permission. Planning wants to know the heating strategy.

The buyer who finally closed did so by splitting the building and heating a third of it. The rest stays cold, which the survey says is fine for at least a decade.