HRH The Prince of Wales reignites furnace marking major milestone in UK steel industry revival

On 16th February 2018, His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales, marked a major milestone in the revival of Britain’s steel industry when he formally reignited the iconic N-Furnace at Liberty Speciality Steels in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. The restart of the electric arc furnace, which was mothballed by previous owners during the steel crisis two and a half years ago, is part of a multi-million-pound investment by the Liberty House Group.

When it bought the business in May 2017, Liberty pledged to restart the furnace as part of an initial £20m investment plan to expand the Speciality operation and create 300 new jobs at Rotherham and its sister plant in Stocksbridge, as well as many hundreds more jobs being created in the wider GFG group, which is Britain’s fastest-growing industrial employer, with 5,500 staff.

The switch-on marked the culmination of five months engineering work by a team of 35 people to repair and upgrade the equipment. It will triple Liberty’s capacity to melt scrap into liquid steel at Rotherham, making the company the largest steel recycler in the UK, with a capability to melt over 1.2m tonnes a year.

The 800,000-tonne-a-year furnace, turns scrap metal into specialised steels for uses such as vehicle gearboxes or aircraft landing gear, will now play a pivotal role in Liberty’s overall GREENSTEEL strategy, designed to usher in a cleaner and more competitive era for the industry in the UK. It also moves the business closer to its target of installing 5m tonnes of GREENSTEEL production capacity within five years. In addition, restarting N-Furnace will enable the Rotherham plant to double production on its adjacent bar mill to over 400,000 tonnes a year.

HRH Prince Charles at Rotherham

During the visit to the 2,000-worker business, Prince Charles was briefed by GFG Executive Chairman, Sanjeev Gupta, on progress towards the Alliance’s vision for an industrial revival based on renewable energy, metal recycling and integration of the supply chain.

The Prince met several young people who will form part of a new generation of skilled workers for the steel sector and wider industry.

These included Liberty apprentices and graduate recruits as well as Industrial Cadets from local schools whom the company supports to develop their knowledge and experience of industry, with a view to building careers in metals, manufacturing or engineering. The Prince of Wales inspired the establishment of the nationwide Industrial Cadet programme seven years ago, following a visit to see the steel industry on Teesside.

HRH Prince Charles speaking with Industrial Cadets