GE Renewable Energy's plans for a factory to manufacture state-of-the-art blades for offshore wind turbines have taken a major step forward after Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen submitted plans that will create thousands of jobs for local workers.

Mayor Houchen has also revealed the first images of what the facility will look like once construction is complete.

GE Renewable Energy took the decision to build the factory in Teesside, in part because Teesside was awarded the UK's biggest Freeport in the Spring Budget.

The huge 78,000sq m facility, in the South Bank zone of the Teesworks site, will sit alongside a new 1km heavy lift quay, creating the UK’s premier location for offshore wind.

Ground remediation and clearance works are well under way with more than 40 people currently employed at the site. A new £1million 95-tonne monster excavator, one of only three in the UK, recently joined the 40-strong machinery fleet to speed up land preparation works ahead of the facility’s construction, set to begin in October.

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Up to 2,250 jobs will be created to support the construction of GE Renewable Energy’s factory. When completed, GE estimates that it could create up to 750 direct highly skilled jobs and close to 1,500 indirect jobs to support its supply chain. The first blade is expected to roll off the production line in 2023, with the factory serving Dogger Bank, the world’s largest wind farm located just 80 miles off the North East coast.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: "I'm excited to reveal the huge plans for this mammoth manufacturing facility. The real regeneration of this site is beginning to take shape right in front of our eyes and, with it, creating real jobs on the ground as we speak.

"We're clearing ground and delivering a construction-ready site primed for developers and now we’ve got global investors right here at the UK’s largest Freeport building this massive factory. A factory producing wind turbine blades, boosting our clean energy ambitions by supplying the growing offshore wind energy sector."Work is ramping up on projects throughout the whole Teesworks site and we're creating hundreds of good-quality, well-paid local jobs for people from across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool right now, as well as securing thousands more for the future."

Andrew Bellamy, Managing Director at LM Wind Power UK, a GE Renewable Energy Business, said: "We're thrilled to be unveiling our plans today for our state-of-the-art facility at Teesside. This is a first important milestone for us. GE Renewable Energy and LM Wind Power are looking forward to continuing on this journey to transform the site and contribute to the creation of this revived location that will form a leading offshore wind industrial cluster in the UK, creating thousands of highly skilled jobs in the process."