The demolition of the Redcar Blast Furnace will bookend a story spanning six decades, Teesside historian Dr Tosh Warwick reports through The Northern Echo.
image: for illustration – By Stuart Kerr – Corus Steel Works, RedcarUploaded by Computerjoe, CC BY 2.0
… a future which is already putting Teesside back on the map…
The Northern Echo writes:
The Steel News reported how work commenced on the new blast furnace development at Redcar in 1974. The new blast furnace development was described as the centrepiece of new developments in the area, and was hailed as ‘the start of a new era’ along with the headline ‘British Steel Builds the New Teesside’.
The development was part of a broader £500million development on Teesside – £400million on the Redcar ironmaking development, and £100million at the nearby Lackenby steelmaking complex – that had ‘given the steelmen of Teesside and the British Steel Corporation the most up-to-date plant and technology’.
Capable of producing 10,000 tonnes of iron a day, the new blast furnace was reported as the biggest single project to be undertaken by British Steel, one of the largest blast furnaces in Europe, and ranked among the most modern in the world…
On 12 October 1979, with 400 people gathered on the cast house floor, Teesside managing director Derek Saul initiated the lighting up ceremony…
When first blown in, the blast furnace employed 437 people (in 1979, British Steel’s Teesside Works employed around 19,500 people) and over the decades, has brought work for thousands of Teessiders across the generations…
Dr Warwick has been a key part of the independent Teesworks Heritage Taskforce. This group was established by Tees Valley Mayor Houchen and is chaired by Redcar MP Jacob Young and Kate Willard OBE. It has led comprehensive efforts to preserve memories of the site for future generations alongside Historic England, former SSI UK PR director John Baker, and former steelworkers…
Jacob Young, Conservative MP for Redcar and co-chair of the Teesworks Heritage Task Force, said: “Our steel industry spanned 170 years and has been a major part of what it means to be from Teesside…”
“This is a future which is already putting Teesside back on the map as a global centre for industry, bringing well-paid, high-quality jobs for thousands of local people.
“And so it is right that we look towards that future and make progress, even if that means having to let go of some of the symbols of our proud past.”
