£200m steelworks investment could create more than 130 jobs

Alec Doyle, Local Democracy Reporter

Plans for a £200m manufacturing plant at a north Wales steelworks could create 137 new jobs if approved.

German multinational insulation firm Knauf has submitted an application to build a facility to manufacture rock mineral wool insulation blocks using a blend of raw materials and recycled rock mineral wool at Shotton Steelworks.

It will include a melter – a furnace to melt rock mineral wool, basalt and slag to allow them to be formed into fibre which then creates the insulation panels for floors, walls and roof spaces.

All production – batch preparation, melting, forming, curing, cooling, cutting and packaging will take place on-site. The site will be in operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week with delivery of base materials normally restricted to between 6am and 10pm Monday- Friday and 8am-5pm at weekends.

The plant will occupy part of the Tata Steel site – formerly Shotton Steelworks – which is less than 500m from the River Dee. A 43m high existing building on the site will be renovated for storage.

The main manufacturing facility and offices will be built as new, with the process building – where the melter will be based – having three 70m chimney stacks. One smaller stack will also be constructed as an emergency bypass for the melter.

The carbon impact of the plant will be reduced through the use of LED lighting throughout, air source heat pumps, solar panels environmental measures including electric vehicle charge points and active travel measures.

This project is strategically vital to Wales, supporting its net zero and building safety goals, enhancing market competition and driving economic growth,” said Alec Drake of global engineering consultancy WSP.

“The proposed development will result in over 137 direct jobs at the Shotton site, additional jobs in the supply chain and an investment of circa £200 million.”

The plant will occupy a site 17.68 hectares – equivalent to more than 44 football pitches – and would bring back into use a brownfield site which is currently lying vacant.

It will also include its own electricity substation supplying up to 21.5 mega-Volt amps of energy to the site.

Flintshire County Council is due to make a decision on the application by June 17.