Three Welsh firms awarded contracts to help deliver new £1.25bn electric arc furnace at Port Talbot

Three south Wales contractors have been appointed to deliver key parts of a £1.25bn investment by Tata Steel to deliver a new electric arc furnace (EAF) at Port Talbot. The contracts to Bridgend-based companies Darlow Lloyd & Sons, Wernick Buildings, and Swansea-based business, Andrew Scot,t will sustain more than 300 jobs.

The investment by Tata, which includes £500m in funding from the UK Government, will see the EAF, that will make steel from scrap steel, becoming operational in 2028. It follows the ending of heavy steel making with the closure last year of Tata's two blast furnaces at Port Talbot which resulted in nearly 2,800 job losses across its UK operations .

Darlow Lloyd & Sons will play a key role in the initial phases of the project, overseeing excavation, recycling, infrastructure, and drainage works essential to the site’s transition to EAF steelmaking.

Director, Rhys Lloyd, said: “We are delighted to announce this partnership which will boost employment across Neath Port Talbot and lay the foundation for future growth across the manufacturing sector.

“This collaboration safeguards our experienced workforce and allows us to appoint local experts with transferable skillsets to this once-in-a-lifetime project.”

Critical infrastructure, including the construction of a new scrap yard to manage the inflow of UK-sourced used steel as a feedstock for the new EAF will be completed by Andrew Scott

David Evan Williams, civil