Mon, 11 July, 2022
Materials Integrity Technology Transfer (MITT) project representative, Dyllan Phipps was invited to attend the signing ceremony for a new £400 million offshore facility on Teesside.
Based at Redcar’s Teesworks, the 1.13m square foot facility will produce 100-150 monopiles per year for use in offshore wind in the North Sea, creating 750 direct jobs in the region as well as a further 1,500 indirect jobs across the supply chain during construction.
Led by SeaH Wind, a Group Company of SeAH Steel Holdings Corporation, the scheme is the first of its type to be driven by private sector investment to begin construction at a UK Freeport.
Tees Valley mayor, Ben Houchen was joined at the event by president and CEO of SeAH Steel Holdings, Joonsung Lee and business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng MP.
Speaking on the facility, Mr Lee said, “With this massive factory it will signal a successful revival of the manufacturing sector in Teesside, as well as setting a great example for the UK government’s initiative to support a green industrial revolution.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Houchen stated, “The first building blocks are now in place to create hundreds of high-quality, well-paid jobs for people across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool for generations to come. And those numbers will only grow as the other transformational projects we’ve got lined up mark us out as the driving force behind the UK’s low carbon ambitions.”
Mr Kwarteng said, “It’s fantastic to witness the ground-breaking for the UK’s first monopile factory which will see Teesside laying the foundations for the future of offshore wind in the UK,” adding, “This plant can be a cornerstone of our new world-class manufacturing base, bringing even more jobs to the region, while helping to strengthen Britain’s energy security.”
Dyllan was honoured to be invited along to the event by the Tees Valley Combined Authority and was able to speak with a number of connections during the day, including SeaH Wind Ltd’s business development manager, David Jack.
The Materials Integrity Technology Transfer (MITT) project is part of the Tees Valley Centre for Materials Integrity Programme, which is part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020) and Tees Valley Combined Authority.