Heathrow has delivered a major boost to
British Steel, and the wider UK industry, by pledging to use British-made steel in its largest-ever investment programme. The announcement was made by the airport at a special event in British Steel‘s Scunthorpe Conference Centre.
As a sign of its commitment to ensuring positive benefits nationwide, Heathrow also signed the UK Steel Charter which aims to maximise supply chain opportunities for UK steel producers. Full details of the investment programme, phasing, and the pathway to a third runway will be part of Heathrow’s initial proposals submitted to the Government this summer.
However, plans outlined last week includes new investment in: terminal infrastructure — Heathrow will work with airlines and the regulator to finalise plans to invest in the capacity of Terminal 2 and make changes to optimise and increase passenger capacity in Terminal 5; improving customer experience and punctuality — reconfigure and improve the layout of the airfield, increasing the number of aircraft stands, to improve resilience and punctuality; local transport connections and sustainable travel — the investment programme includes plans to further improve bus and coach connections to encourage sustainable and active travel options and benefit our local communities; and sustainability: new infrastructure will have improved environmental credentials and will use more sustainable sources of power, supporting the ambitious targets set out in Heathrow’s Connecting People and Planet sustainability strategy.
Dawn of a new eraWelcoming the announcement, Allan Bell, British Steel’s chief commercial and procurement officer said: “We stand at the dawn of a new era – an era in which we are committed to building a clean, green, and sustainable business where steel is more important than ever before. We have an ambition to embark on our biggest journey to date, which will see us transform to a sustainable and modern, cleaner process using electric arc furnace technology.
“British Steel is pivotal for the UK to achieve its ‘net zero’ targets, and our products play a central role in transitioning to a low-carbon, circular economy. Products produced here will be fundamental to support the future growth of the UK economy. For this reason, we are proud to be backing a third runway and the proposed expansion of Heathrow.
“Major developments like this, require large volumes of steel, and this demonstrates why the UK must have a strong and vibrant steel manufacturing sector. This sovereign capability is critical to deliver such projects. We look forward to working with Heathrow, other customers, and the UK Government, to support investments which grow the British economy and retain employment.”
He added: “Our colleagues in Scunthorpe and Teesside have a distinguished history of supplying world-class products into projects like Heathrow’s Terminal 5, The Shard and Network Rail track, and we are incredibly excited by the potential of this announcement and Heathrow’s signing of the UK Steel Charter.”
Zengwei An, British Steel CEO, concluded: “As Britain’s only manufacturer of heavy constructional steel sections, and rail, we have a critical role to play in helping this country meet its many infrastructure needs.”