08 | 07 | 2024British Steel’s Decarbonisation Journey: A Tour of Teesside Beam Mill

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British Steel's Decarbonisation Journey: A Tour of Teesside Beam Mill

Our CEO at Billington Holdings Plc, Mark Smith, was invited by British Steel, along with other members of the National Steelwork Contractor Group (NSCG) from the British Constructional Steelwork Association (BCSA), to visit their Teesside Beam Mill. Other board-level executives from organisations within the NSCG, and a committee within the (BCSA) were able to see British Steel's manufacturing process first-hand, with special attention given to their process of decarbonisation through using electric arc furnace steelmaking.

Ben Cunliffe, British Steel's Commercial Director for Construction has this to say about the visit,"It was a fantastic opportunity to showcase our operations and discuss our decarbonisation journey with BCSA and our customers. During the visit, we were able to showcase to our customers the scale of the operations that go into the steel we supply to them. It also allowed our customers to view in person British Steel's plans to build an electric arc furnace at the Teesside site and the progress towards what will become one of the most significant decarbonisation projects in the entire UK national interest."

British Steel's mission is to be a sustainable global steel manufacturer and embrace technology and innovation to be successful in providing customers with vastly reduced embodied carbon products. Along with this, their mission is to be customer-focused with market-leading products and services, support the growth of their people and the communities in which they operate, and transform British Steel into a vibrant and sustainable business at the heart of a green economy. These mission goals align with their three core values: pride, passion and performance.

British Steel has unveiled a £1.25 billion proposal to decarbonise its operations, which aligns with their sustainability goals. The main element of this goal is to reduce carbon intensity by 75% by 2030 through the installation of two electric arc furnaces (EAFs). After installation of the new EAF furnaces and the 75% reduction, further emissions reduction will then come from supply of renewable energy, reduced internal transportation of steel, developing hydrogen for reheat furnaces, and a focus on scope 3 opportunities.

British Steel is certified with a good rating for the Environmental and Sustainability Standard BES 6001 Responsible Sourcing of Products, and the value this brings to us as a business means we can be confident we are working with a supplier who is committed to sustainability and that it is embedded into our company ethos.

British Steel's decarbonisation initiative aligned with our own sustainability goals of reducing our carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 and becoming completely net-zero by 2050.

We are very proud to be in partnership with British Steel and continue to make further changes towards sustainability within the steel industry and reaching net-zero.

Mark Smith commented on the success of the day saying,"I was very impressed by the adoption of lower embodied carbon through electric arc furnace steelmaking and was delighted to go along and see first-hand the early developments of this sustainable change. Adopting electric arc furnace steelmaking is a major step towards achieving decarbonisation goals, not only with British Steel but for the steel industry as a whole. The tour gave me a newfound appreciation for the incredible work that is being done at British Steel."