Steelwork begins on ‘landmark’ machine shop

Steelwork has started on a landmark new machining facility in Sheffield that will become one of the most advanced large-scale manufacturing sites of its kind globally. 

Construction firm McLaughlin & Harvey is assembling the steel frame at the Ministry of Defence-owned Sheffield Forgemasters site on Weedon Street, marking a significant milestone in the transformation of a key industrial site near the Meadowhall corridor and visible from the M1.

Spanning 30,000 sq metres and rising to a height of 32 metres, the New Machine Shop will house 24 new machines, including some of the world’s most advanced vertical turning lathes.

Steelwork is scheduled for completion by June, with gantry cranes due to be installed by October, followed by roofing and cladding later in the year. 

The facility forms a central part of Sheffield Forgemasters’ £1.3 billion recapitalisation programme and will sit alongside a new 13,000-tonne forge currently under construction nearby.

Together, the developments are designed to strengthen UK defence manufacturing capability while supporting the next generation of engineers trained in Industry 4.0 technologies and nuclear-grade engineering.

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.

“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.”

Jonathan Cole, operations director at McLaughlin & Harvey, added: “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. 

“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.”

The wider project team includes Arup, Bond Bryan Architects, JLL and Turner & Townsend, supporting delivery across design, planning and construction as the site takes shape.

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