Clydebridge Steelworks

The Clydebridge Steelworks, also known as Clydebridge Works, is a steel works in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The plant opened in 1877. The works made steel sheared plates to build ships (among other uses) - plates from Clydebridge were used in many famous vessels such as the ocean liners of the Cunard Line (Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary and QE2). Steel manufacture at the site ended in 1978; the site had manufactured steel with an open hearth furnace, the type of melting shops that British Steel wanted to discontinue. In the mid-1970s, it employed around 3,500. The plate mill at Clydebridge plate works rolled its last plate on 12 November 1982. The M74 motorway now runs through the works site adjacent to the remaining buildings. As of 2016, it is currently owned by Liberty House Group and employs 45 workers in its heat treatment and quenching facilities. In late 2017, it appeared the future of the Clydebridge and Dalzell sites was again uncertain when Liberty offered redundancy packages to its workforce, but a few months later, Liberty Group owner Sanjeev Gupta announced a further "£1bn investment in Scotland" under his Greensteel production strategy.