McAlpine to build new furnace at Port Talbot steel plant

Sir Robert McAlpine has been appointed to build a new electric arc furnace at Tata Steel’s steelworks in Port Talbot.

Traditional steelmaking at the site finished last September with Tata closing its last remaining blast furnace under a restructure that will cut nearly 3,000 jobs at the South Wales plant.

Future steelmaking in Port Talbot will rely on imports until an electric furnace, which melts scrap steel, is built.

Tata is pumping £1.25bn into so-called green steelmaking at Port Talbot with the new electric arc furnace capable of producing around three million tonnes of steel per year once it is up and running, which is set to be 2028.

McAlpine will be working under a construction management contract and will be responsible for managing the main, civil, structural and building works at the new furnace as well as associated work.

McAlpine, which has helped build parts of the existing steelworks over the past 70 years, has been working with Tata Steel since September 2022 on feasibility studies for the plant.

Enabling works will be fully up and running by the spring with the main works scheduled to start this autumn.

Tata Steel’s project lead on the scheme, Peter Jones, said: “Our new arc furnace will be one of the largest and most sophisticated of its kind in the world, so it is important that we work with highly skilled and experienced partners to ensure its success.”

The deal extends McAlpine’s relationship with the Indian conglomerate with the contractor last summer being appointed to build a new car battery plant in Bridgwater for Tata-owned subsidiary Agratas.

Production at the new gigafactory in Somerset is due to start in 2026. Two other buildings will also be built at the site in later phases.