Steelwork assembly has begun on a flagship building in Sheffield set to become one of the world's most advanced large-scale machining facilities.

McLaughlin & Harvey has started erecting the steel frame for a 30,000 m2 Machine Shop, rising to 32 metres, at the Ministry of Defence-owned Sheffield Forgemasters, marking a major early milestone for the year.

The steel frame is scheduled to be finished by June, with gantry cranes installed by October and the roof and cladding completed by November. The facility will accommodate 24 new machines, including some of the world’s largest and most advanced Vertical Turning Lathes.

Jonathan Cole, Operations Director, McLaughlin & Harvey, said: "As we start 2026, we are delighted to drive forward with the steelwork assembly for one of the UK's most important defence-related construction projects and to support Sheffield Forgemasters in its highly ambitious plans.

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"Following an intensive period of enabling works and advanced works, we are able to progress the structural steel assembly, which will bring the full scale of this project to life."

Craig Fisher, Programme Director (Recapitalisation), Sheffield Forgemasters, said: "Following the award of our main works contract for the new Machine Shop to McLaughlin & Harvey, enabling works and piling mean that we can start 2026 with steel assembly.

"This will really allow people to visualise the scale of the construction and to see industrial engineering reshaping the eastern side of Sheffield once again.

"The Weedon Street location is the former site of Cammell Laird's Brightside Steel Works, once part of the Vickers empire which Sheffield Forgemasters inherited in 1983, so it is great to know that we are reinstating world-leading manufacturing facilities in the country's steel heartland."

The Machine Shop forms a central part of Sheffield Forgemasters’ £1.3 billion recapitalisation programme and will sit alongside a new 13,000 tonne forge currently being built across Brightside Lane, strengthening the UK’s defence manufacturing capability.

Together, the 13,000 tonne forging line and the new machine shop are expected to help train a new generation of engineers and designers in Industry 4.0 technologies for nuclear-grade engineering projects.