British Steel gets planning approval for ‘special profiles’ business upgrade

British Steel has been given planning approval for a £26 million ($32 million) upgrade to its ‘special profiles’ business, the second largest UK steel producer said on June 13.

The plans for a new service centre at Skinningrove, which include cut-to-length lines, product milling, machining and warehousing operations, have been approved by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, with the company aiming to start building work later this year and commissioning expected to start in August 2023.

“…This development will ensure we remain a leading global manufacturer and represents the biggest single investment in our special profiles business for more than 30 years,” David Hogg, Special Profiles Plant Manager, said.

David Waine, British Steel’s Commercial Director for Special Profiles, said, “It will enable us to manufacture world-class products to the tightest of tolerances.” “We will also be able to explore new growth opportunities for although our primary product offering will be for forklift mast production, we expect to be able to expand this to include other product applications too,” he added.

The new Skinningrove facility is designed to replace the services currently offered at the company’s site in Darlington, which stores and cuts profiles to customer requirements. As reported in the company statement, this latest scheme builds on previous investments, including the installation of a $2.4 million surface descaling system, a high-tech product processing center and a robotic identification tracking control system. In May, the company also announced the commissioning of a $1.2 million state-of-the art laser measurement system.

British Steel has a steel products capacity of about 3 million mt/year in the UK and Europe.

Platts assessed the Turkish exported rebar down $15/mt on the day at $720/mt FOB June 10.

— Annalisa Villa