Mayor hails ‘ milestone’ as he looks to bring in new jobs at steel site

WORK HAS begun on a new £ 1m entrance for the re- branded Redcar steelworks five years on from its former owner SSI collapsing into liquidation.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen assisted with the demolition of the gatehouse at the site, now known as Teesworks.

The work is being carried out by County Durham Esh Construction and could be completed by Christmas.

In July Mr Houchen unveiled his 12- month £ 393million demolition and remediation jobs plan for Teesworks and a number of multi- million pound contracts have since been issued for construction and remediation work to take place. The Mayor said: “The pain, job losses and economic impact from this site’s closure five years ago cannot be understated. The heart- breaking image of one worker leaving his boots and hard hat by the site showed the human impact of the closure.

“The only local people I want to see at the Teesworks entrance now are those lined up ready to take advantage of all of the jobs we’re creating.

“We’ll soon see diggers on the site and construction under way on the state- of- the- art gateway, which will be an impressive shop window for international investors and something local people can be proud of. There’s so much activity across the entire site and it feels right to be carrying this out, marking an important milestone and finally drawing a line under the problems of the past.”

Cleveland Borough Council leader Councillor Mary Lanigan said: “Today is another step on the road to ensuring thousands of quality jobs return to our borough for generations to come.” Andy Radcliffe, Esh Group’s chief executive officer, said the demolition of the gatehouse “is a significant milestone in the regeneration of the former SSI site and without doubt will act as a catalyst for job creation, economic growth and business investment in the Tees Valley”.