At Tata Steel’s Port Talbot site, the transformation of a former slab storage yard, ‘P Field’, marks another major milestone in the company’s journey toward greener steelmaking under the £1.25 billion Project Invictus investment programme.
Once filled with concrete bunds and redundant materials, the vast site is being redeveloped into a vital scrap receipt, handling and processing area for the new electric arc furnace operation.
Lloyd Bryant, Head of Infrastructure for the Invictus Investment Programme, explained that work has been underway since January to clear and prepare the ground.
“We’ve taken the level down a metre, completed the groundworks, and already poured around 20,000 square metres of reinforced concrete,” he said.
In the short term, P Field will serve a different purpose. Before becoming the new scrap handling and processing area, it will host a large welfare village for up to 1,200 workers — both Tata Steel employees and contractors — who will be building the EAF and related facilities.
The engineering detail behind the redevelopment is impressive. The site has been designed with a carefully graded slope and dual drainage channels to prevent water retention, ensuring incoming scrap remains dry and ready for processing. Reinforced sections will support heavy machinery and the area where “tumble trains” will be offloading up to 70,000 tonnes of scrap steel a week.
Local contractors Andrew Scott’s, working under Sir Robert McAlpine supervision, have led the civil works with a strong focus on safety, collaboration, and site presentation.
“They’ve been excellent,” said Lloyd. “It’s a site we’re proud to bring people to.”
As the enabling works progress, P Field’s evolution reflects both the scale and ambition of Tata Steel UK’s transition to low-carbon steelmaking — a transformation grounded in engineering precision, collaboration, and a vision for a more sustainable future.
About Tata Steel UK
- The Tata Steel Group has been named one of the most ethical companies in the world, and is among the top producing global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 34 million tonnes.
- Tata Steel in the UK has the ambition to produce net-zero steel by 2045 at the latest, and to have reduced 30% of its CO2 emissions by 2030.
- In October 2024, Tata Steel ceased ironmaking at its Port Talbot site and temporarily paused steelmaking pending the construction of a 3.2Mtpa Electric Arc Furnace, due to be commissioned late in 2027 / early 2028. For that period, the business will import slab and hot rolled coil to support manufacturing and distribution operations at sites across Wales, England and Northern Ireland as well as Norway, Sweden, France, Germany and UAE. It also benefits from a network of sales offices around the world.
- Throughout 2024 Tata Steel UK has been undergoing a restructuring that will reduce the size of its workforce to around 5000 direct employees, supplying high-quality steel products to demanding markets, including construction and infrastructure, automotive, packaging and engineering.
- Tata Steel Group is one of the world's most geographically-diversified steel producers, with operations and a commercial presence across the world.
- The group recorded a consolidated turnover of around US$27.7 billion in the financial year ending March 31, 2024.
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