Car industry positive about wheel factory
‘They’ve recognised how beneficial it will be for such a major component for their manufacturing process to be made in the UK’
Britain’s car manufacturers have responded positively to the prospect of sourcing alloy wheels from Fort William, according to senior managers at Liberty British Aluminium.
The company has been in discussions with vehicle manufacturers since announcing its plans to build a 400-strong workforce, alloy wheel factory next to its aluminium smelter at Fort William.
Although construction is yet to begin, senior Liberty managers reported this week the response from the car-makers was ‘very encouraging’ and they are now looking forward to getting the plant built and into production.
Brian King, director of Lochaber operations at GFG Alliance, the parent company of Liberty, said: ‘We’ve been very encouraged by the reaction from the motor industry.
‘They’ve recognised how beneficial it will be for such a major component for their manufacturing process to be made in the UK. At present, almost all of the eight million alloy wheels used in Britishmade cars come from abroad. That’s going to change and Scotland will be the flag bearer for that change.’
Mr King’s comments came as part of a progress report on the development of the wheels’ plant which showed clearance work on the site has begun in preparation for construction, with some of the project team preparing to move into temporary offices on site in the coming months.
A range of specialist consultants – including environmental experts – are currently helping Liberty address the requirements of conditions associated with the detailed planning permission granted by the Highland Council earlier this year.
‘We’re looking at the possibility of future-proofing the plant at the outset to ensure its long-term sustainability,’ continued Mr King. ‘That would save time and money further down the line if we need to increase capacity. We’ll be discussing this with local communities and Highland Council officials as part of our preparations to build the factory.’
He added the long-term aim would be to optimise the value of the site’s assets and create more jobs by turning all of the locally-produced aluminium into alloy wheels on site. The current design allows for a factory that would use only half of the aluminium produced by the Fort William smelter, with the rest being sold to other factories around the UK.
Mr King explained the new Fort William plant was set to become ‘one of the flagship plants’ within Liberty’s growing worldwide automotive industry footprint.
As part of the preparations for construction at Fort William, reports on transport, drainage, ground conditions, construction methods and environmental mitigation will be completed soon, while archaeology survey work has already been completed to the satisfaction of the Highland Council Historic Environment Team and Historic Environment Scotland. Mr King added: ‘We have made significant progress. The preliminary site clearance and detailed design work is allowing information to be prepared to address pre-start conditions associated with our planning permission. We’ve also held pre-tender discussions with prospective suppliers of the machinery that will be installed at this state-of-the-art plant.’
GFG has also been working closely with Scottish Government and local agencies for more than a year to identify required improvements to local services and infrastructure to support the factory.