Member Article

Rotherham R&D site in jeopardy as Tata Steel announces relocation to Warwick

The future of Tata Steel’s Research & Development site in Rotherham is in jeopardy as the Indian multinational firm announces that it is relocating research to Warwick University.

Tata announced in February that it had secured £8 million Regional Growth Fund investment from the UK Government for research into next-generation steels for cars, aircraft, rail networks, skyscrapers, mining equipment and power stations.

Tata stated that the research would initially take place at the R&D facility in Rotherham, but according to Rotherham Business News, added that “the company is currently considering where the research will continue over the longer term with a possible relocation to a different UK site in the future.”

A spokesperson for Tata Steel confirmed that the announcement means that the research will move away from Rotherham. He added: “The Swinden Technology Centre was created to best serve the needs of the steel industry several decades ago.

“While the RGF-funded research has initially taken place at our R&D facility in Rotherham, we are now announcing it will be relocated to a facility at the University of Warwick.

“This is not an overnight process. Any relocation would take years, not months.”

“The change of location is not about job numbers but about the future strength of R&D in the UK. As such there are no intended reductions. We have positions for all of the current people in the organisation and in the longer term a modest increase is possible.

“We are currently [in talks], with the trade unions, seeking clarification from individuals on their preferences based on information today.”

According to ust over 2,000 people are employed at Tata Steel overall in South Yorkshire and sites including Stocksbridge in Sheffield and Aldwarke in Rotherham specialise in the production of high grade and special steelss for the transport, building and construction sectors.

Around 155 are employed at the Swinden Technology Centre which houses Tata’s R&D site.

Tata Steel is already facing industrial action on Teeside where R&D staff are unhappy at the prospect of being employed by an arms-length organisation set up by Tata, the Materials Processing Institute, instead of Tata itself.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .