Sheffield steel: Forgemasters' £350m steelworks near Meadowhall will be size of four football pitches

Forgemasters says the £350m landmark on Weedon Street will be the largest machining hall of its kind in the UK.

The project has been granted planning permission and the facility is set to open in 2028.

It will house 17 of the world’s largest and most advanced vertical turning lathes and make parts for the British defence programme, including the next generation of nuclear submarines, bosses say.

A second, smaller building will house a test-house facility and training area, “to transfer vital skills to the next generation of engineers.”

Craig Fisher, programmes director at Sheffield Forgemasters, said it was an “amazing investment” set to create engineering jobs for decades to come.

He added: “The sheer scale of the building will make it an iconic landmark, and will eclipse the construction of the UK’s largest open-die forging-line, which is also underway on our adjacent Brightside Lane site.”

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The brownfield site was sold by the then Meadowhall co-owner, British Land after plans to create almost 5,000 jobs in a ‘River Don District’ failed to take off.

The laithes are being made by German firm, WaldrichSiegen.

Nationalised in July 2021, Forgemasters is now fully-owned by the Ministry of Defence and is having a £400m upgrade.