WORKERS at two former mothballed steel plants in Lanarkshire are to start producing heavy duty steel for wind towers.
Scotland's last remaining steel mills were saved three months ago when the Scottish Government bought them from Tata steel and immediately sold it on to Liberty House, an international steel firm, which has pledged to invest in the Scottish and UK steel industries.
Liberty has now announced that the former Tata plants at Dalzell and Clydebridge, which faced closure last October with the loss of 270 jobs, are set to resume production in September on a contract to make the steel plate needed for the towers.
The firm also started recruiting staff last week for the the newly reopened plants with aims to fill up to 100 posts in the first recruitment phase.
It expects that number to grow next year.
The recruitment drive includes production, finance, health and safety and administrative positions.
The site where the wind towers will be built has not yet been revealed.
Liberty House bought the steel tower production equipment from Mabey Bridge Renewables at Chepstow, South Wales. which closed down last year.
The equipment makes towers of up to 56m (184ft) tall x 5m (16ft) diameter for onshore wind installations but Liberty plans to upgrade it to make 110m (361ft) x 10m (33ft) towers for the growing offshore market.
Towers and cross sections for the National Grid's new 35m (115ft) tall T-Pylons, expected to become a common feature across Britain, will also be made.
Liberty House's executive chairman Sanjeev Gupta said: "We are very excited about this new opportunity.
"It is an excellent example of how we are integrating our steel production and manufacturing supply chain to create a robust industrial eco-system.
"It is particularly appropriate that this new business will supply the renewable energy market in view of our own Greensteel strategy, which involves investing in green energy as the basis of a competitive UK steel and engineering industry."
He said Liberty has ambitious plans to create a world-class centre for making tubular towers and other large-scale steel fabrication.
Gupta added: "Most of these products are currently imported, so there is great potential to substitute this with our own production of best-in-class and competitive British towers, building sustained value and creating skilled jobs in a growth sector."
Liberty said it hoped to re-employ some of the ex-Tata employees who lost their jobs when the the Scottish plants were mothballed.
But he also encouraged others seeking a new career in the steel industry to apply.
Liberty said it planned to offer apprenticeship opportunities, including modern apprenticeships in engineering, finance and commercial planning.
This week a multi-million pound deal to build offshore wind farm turbines was signed, which marks a key boost in a drive to breathe new life into a Scottish port by establishing it as a key part of the renewables industry.
The contract will see Global Energy Group’s Nigg Energy Park in the Cromarty Firth produce turbines for the planned 84-turbine Beatrice offshore wind farm.
Work is scheduled to start in the spring of 2018. The project is expected to retain and create more than 100 direct and indirect jobs.
WWF Scotland director Lang Banks said: "Following this week's announcement of over 100 new jobs at Nigg on the Cromarty Firth to support the construction of an offshore wind farm, it's great to hear of the potential for even more jobs linked to renewables.
"This news underscores the type of jobs benefits that will come as the UK transitions to a zero-carbon economy.
"However, to ensure we reap the maximum benefits of becoming a zero-carbon nation, government must put in place the necessary policies to fully support this important transition." ends.
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