Premier Technical Services Group Ltd (PTSG) is currently engaged in a major specialist services project at the site of British Steel in Scunthorpe to repair a number of industrial chimneys.
Scunthorpe’s iron and steel industry has been a cornerstone of the area since the mid-19th century. In 1967 the works were consolidated and nationalised as part of the British Steel Corporation. In 1988 they were privatised and became part of Corus and later Tata Steel. Greybull Capital, a private investment firm that specialises in buying up struggling businesses, took over in 2016, renaming the firm British Steel.
The factory is a huge complex on the outskirts of the town centre and its towering chimneys can be seen for miles. Its presence is embedded into the fabric of the town – the central shopping arcade is named The Foundry in homage to it.
Steeplejack engineers from PTSG Building Access Specialists Ltd are currently onsite during a two-week shutdown, enabling them to perform a series of repairs to five different chimneys. They are:
- Two steel chimneys at the Appleby Coke Ovens. The coke produced here is used in the blast furnace with the charged iron ores to produce the liquid iron, which is subsequently converted to steel in the plant. The steel chimneys are perhaps the most visible and iconic part of the entire plant at Scunthorpe.
- Two steel chimneys at the Scunthorpe Rod Mill. In the last several years, a significant investment has been made to improve the quality and range of wire rod produced at British Steel’s headquarters in Scunthorpe.
- One brick chimney at the Ore Preparation Plant. Coke, iron ore, sinter and limestone are fed into the top of the four blast furnaces in Scunthorpe. The plant’s modern convertors (or vessels) take a combined charge of scrap and liquid iron of up to 330 tonnes and convert this into steel in just 25 minutes.
With the steel industry being the lifeblood of Scunthorpe, if a single chimney at the plant fails, production has to cease and the repercussions can be significant. PTSG is therefore proud to play its part in helping to keep the site safe and operational.
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