The international steel and minerals group Liberty House has announced that it has acquired equipment to make wind towers, T-pylons and other large-scale tubular steel fabrications from UK-based engineering group Mabey Bridge. The equipment will form the heart of a major new manufacturing center which will eventually supply the growing offshore wind market and turbine casings for Tidal Lagoon power, in which Liberty's sister company, SIMEC, is a major investor. The company will announce the location of its new manufacturing center within the next few weeks.
Liberty House stated that it will recruit a workforce of over 100 for the new enterprise, including engineers, welders, fabricators, assemblers, blasters and painters. This number is expected to grow significantly as the business develops. In addition, the company will resume production at its newly-acquired steel plants at Dalzell and Clydebridge in Scotland which will make the heavy-duty steel plate required for the towers. The mothballed Scottish plate mills began recruitment last week with a view to restarting production in September this year.
The company’s executive chairman Sanjeev Gupta said that the new enterprise will add competitive strength by accessing steel from the group's plate mills in the UK and the plate mills will gain a valuable long-term client for a high-end product.