Liberty House Group has started a recruitment drive for the newly reopened Dalzell and Clydebridge steel plants in Lanarkshire, which the international metals and industrial firm acquired from Tata Steel in April 2016.
Liberty hope to re-employ some ex-Tata employees who lost their jobs when the plate plants were mothballed in October 2015, but applications are also being encouraged from those looking to join the steel industry for the first time.
This first phase of the recruitment drive aims to fill up to 100 positions, with the number expected to grow during 2017. Initial positions cover a wide range of roles, including production; finance; health and safety, and administrative positions.
The agreement to save the two Lanarkshire plants was struck on March 24 and completed in late April. The deal was made possible by the Scottish Government who worked closely with Liberty and other stakeholders to help facilitate the deal.
The new management team are working to restart production in mid-September. Once production is re-established, the plants will provide steel plate to industries including ship building; heavy vehicle manufacture; renewable energy; construction, and civil engineering, among others.
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Liberty will also be introducing a range of apprenticeship opportunities, including Modern Apprenticeships in Engineering, Finance and Commercial Planning, a Foundation Apprenticeship and a Graduate Apprenticeship.
To ensure the future success of its plate division, in April Liberty announced that it had appointed Jon Bolton, a prominent figure in the UK steel industry, as chief executive of its new plate division, encompassing Dalzell and Clydebridge. He was also appointed as a member of the Liberty Steel UK management team.
Speaking about the new recruitment drive at Dalzell and Clydebridge, Bolton commented: “This moment marks a significant milestone in the process of bringing the steel business in Scotland back to life.
“It is a just reward for the dedication of the skilled workers who had to leave the business, and it also presents an opportunity for new employees to join the Liberty family.”
Liberty has a ‘GREENSTEEL’ vision for the UK, using renewable energy to melt the readily available supply of scrap in Britain. It represents a much needed change for the UK steel industry, enabling it to become more competitive, flexible and sustainable.
Dalzell and Clydebridge plants are part of that vision. Liberty will create an end-to-end process that starts with the melting of UK recovered scrap steel and continues through the manufacture and distribution of high-quality downstream steel products, such as plate from the Scottish steel plants.
