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Ten Years After SSI’s Shutdown, Teesside Recasts Redcar Site as Teesworks Hub

Leaders now point to a green manufacturing pipeline, with unresolved questions over past decisions and worker deaths.

Overview

  • On October 12, 2015, the official receiver confirmed the coke ovens’ closure, ending 170 years of steelmaking and leaving at least 1,700 people out of work, with wider losses reported across the supply chain.
  • Archive images and accounts recall the Save Our Steel campaign, including mass rallies and visible backing from Middlesbrough FC during the final push to keep the plant alive.
  • Following land deals, compulsory purchase steps and demolition, the 4,500-acre site has been repurposed as Teesworks, which now hosts SeAH’s £950 million offshore wind factory and the Steel River Quay.
  • Local authorities secured control through negotiations with Thai banks, a Tata land deal in 2019, an agreement with SSI in early 2020 and the UK Government relinquishing its share later that year.
  • Industry minister Chris McDonald argues the Government could have sustained operations in 2015 by purchasing coal shipments and says he will continue seeking answers over later fatalities at or linked to the former site.