Steel assembly has begun on Sheffield Forgemasters' New Machine Shop, set to become one of the world’s most advanced large-scale machining facilities.

Contractor McLaughlin & Harvey started the New Year by erecting the first steel frames for the 30,000 m² facility on Weedon Street, which will reach a height of 32 metres and be visible from the M1 motorway at Meadowhall.

The steel framework is scheduled for completion by June, with gantry cranes installed by October and the roof and cladding to follow later in the year. The building will house 24 new machines, including some of the world’s largest and most advanced Vertical Turning Lathes.

Gareth Barker, Chief Operating Officer at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: "Following the award of our Main Works contract for the New Machine Shop to McLaughlin & Harvey, enabling works and piling progress mean that we can start 2026 with steel assembly.

-- Advertisement --

"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.

"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 New Machine Shop is a central element of Sheffield Forgemasters’ £1.3 billion recapitalisation programme, complementing the new 13,000-tonne Forge, currently under construction across Brightside Lane, which underpins UK defence manufacturing.

Once complete, the machine shop and forging line will train a new generation of engineers and designers to work with Industry 4.0 technologies in nuclear-grade engineering projects.

The project team includes Arup, responsible for ecological and travel assessments, Bond Bryan Architects, and JLL, which handled site acquisition, planning submissions, and delivery support in partnership with Turner & Townsend.