Teesside Steelworks

Teesside Steelworks at night

Teesside Steelworks was a large steelworks located along the south bank of the River Tees between Middlesbrough and Redcar in the unitary authority area of Redcar and Cleveland in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. Located near the mouth of the River Tees close to the river's outfall into the North Sea, the site's blast furnace was the second largest in Europe.

The majority of the steelworks, including the Redcar blast furnace, Redcar and South Bank coke ovens and the BOS plant at Lackenby closed in 2015. The Teesside Beam Mill and some support services still operate at the Lackenby part of the site.

History

Founded by Dorman Long in 1917, the steel produced was used to build structures including the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Tyne Bridge and the Auckland Harbour Bridge.

In 1967 Dorman Long was absorbed into the newly created nationalised company, British Steel Corporation. After privatisation in 1988 to form British Steel plc, in 1999 the company merged with Netherlands-based steel maker Koninklijke Hoogovens to form Corus Group. Corus utilised the site for basic oxygen steelmaking, using iron produced at the company's Redcar blast furnace. In 2007, Corus was bought by Tata Steel.

SSI: 2012–2015

In light of the termination of a large contract in 2009, Tata stopped production and 1,700 jobs were lost at the plant.

On 24 February 2011, the steelworks was purchased by Thai-based Sahaviriya Steel Industries (SSI). On 15 April 2012 the plant was officially reopened. On 18 September 2015, production was paused due to the decline in steel prices. On 28 September 2015, the plant was "mothballed" amid poor steel trading conditions across the world and a drop in steel prices. On 2 October, the owner of the site, SSI UK, entered liquidation. On 12 October 2015 the receiver announced there was no realistic prospect of finding a buyer and the coke ovens would be extinguished.

Greybull Capital: 2016–present

The remainder of the site (Teesside Beam Mill and ancillary support services at Lackenby) owned by Tata Steel and still operational is to be potentially sold to investment firm Greybull Capital with the British Steel name being resurrected as part of the deal.

Transport

The site is alongside Teesport, used for iron ore, coal, and other raw material imports, and steel exports.

The site is served by British Steel Redcar railway station, which opened on 19 June 1978. There is no public access to and from the station (being located on private land), it has a very limited service provided by Northern.