'Sheffield on the up' says MP amid surge in manufacturing among city firms
“It’s the most optimistic I’ve felt about Sheffield industry in all my time as an MP”
Sheffield is becoming a major manufacturing centre again, with the city’s engineering on the up.
That is the view of the city’s longest serving MP, Clive Betts, after a succession of major investment announcements affecting some of the city’s engineering firms.
The city has seen a wave of announcements in recent months over the future of some it its high profile and high technology metal industries.
Among high profile projects recently announced in the city are several at Sheffield Forgemasters.
The Brightside-based firm has four major projects as part of recent investment programmes worth more than £1 billion.
Two of these are creating facilities for the manufacture of nuclear components for power generation, for submarines and civil components. Two more are in connection with making artillery barrels.
And BAE systems is also opening its own manufacturing site for artillery barrels.
Meanwhile, Independent Forgings & Alloys Ltd plans to double the capacity of its forge in the city, with the creation of 170 jobs, through a major extension to its works on on Livesey Street, Owlerton.
And Special Melted Products Ltd, near Burngreave, this week announced the signing of two significant multi-year contracts with global engineering giant Rolls-Royce, worth £180 million.
A £54 million innovation centre, backed by Boeing, has also just opened between Rotherham and Sheffield.
The Composites at Speed and Scale facility, which has Boeing as its first user, is now officially open at the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre.
And Rolls-Royce has recently announced it is investing more than £19m in a Catcliffe site which manufactures turbine blades for the jet engines that power long-haul aircraft.
Sheffield South East MP Clive Betts, an MP since 1992, said: “It’s absolutely wonderful that Sheffield is coming back as a major manufacturing centre. But success breeds success. Once manufacturing firms like Forgemasters, Boeing and Rolls Royce are in Sheffield, others look to follow suit and it becomes a place where people want to invest.
“I think we are on the up and when you talk to company directors, people see Sheffield as developing its reputation and a good place to come and invest.
“I think other firms will come in and I think small modular reactors will be a major market now, and in the future. It brings highly paid, skilled jobs which are just what the city needs.
“It’s the most optimistic I’ve felt about Sheffield industry in all my time as an MP.”
However, despite the major investment in several sites across the city, there are still concerns over the future of the city’s steelworks in Stocksbridge, owned by Speciality Steel UK.
Previously part of Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Steel empire, Speciality Steel UK employs 1,450 at sites in Rotherham, Wednesbury and Stocksbridge, Sheffield.
But in October, minister for industry Chris McDonald MP said he had a “high level of confidence” a buyer would be found for the company.
Kate Josephs, chief executive of Sheffield Council, described the recent announcements a major vote of confidence in Sheffield and South Yorkshire's world-renowned manufacturing and engineering sector, as well as those work for the companies.
She said: "Investment in Forgemasters and Independent Forgings & Alloys, plus major recent investment from global companies such as Boeing and Rolls-Royce, demonstrates the scale of the opportunity ahead.
“Sheffield is not simply proud of its industrial heritage – it is helping to shape the future of advanced manufacturing, creating skilled jobs and opening up new opportunities for local people.
"We have placed advanced manufacturing at the heart of Sheffield and South Yorkshire's growth strategy and are working closely with businesses, universities and regional partners to help create the conditions for the sector to invest, innovate and grow.
"This is fantastic news for Sheffield and South Yorkshire. It reinforces our position as one of the UK's leading centres for advanced manufacturing and demonstrates how our region is helping to drive the industries of the future."
She believes that plans for a Don Valley Growth Corridor have the potential to create more than 18,000 new jobs through further cutting-edge industrial expansion, alongside sustainable housing and thriving communities.