September 2024
The Visit
Visited with @Mr Budge and @MotionlessMike, I've not seen much from this place apart from @jtza's excellent report from July 2022. We stopped in at this on one the second day of our three day excursion to Scotland gaining access to the site with relative ease, the smiles would quickly be wiped off our face.
A little spooked from the near-encounter with Secca we carried on and quickly found a way in thanks to Budge's keen eye, admittedly I anticipated having to have to run from Secca again at some point so elected to stick with phone shots for this one and not mess about with my camera and tripod, because of this you'll have to exclude the photo quality (my iPhone 15 did its best in the dwindling light). My fears turned out to be unfounded with us spending a decent amount of time in the works before making our exit.
History
The Clydebridge Works, established in 1877, originally manufactured steel plates for shipbuilding and other industries. The plant's products were used in many famous vessels, including the Cunard Line's ocean liners Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary, and QE2. Steel production at the site ceased in 1978 as British Steel moved away from the open-hearth furnace process used there. At its peak in the mid-1970s, the Clydebridge plant employed around 3,500 workers, but the plate mill ultimately closed on November 12, 1982.
An extension of the M74 motorway was later built through the former Clydebridge site, which now sits adjacent to the remaining plant buildings. In 2016, the facility was acquired by Liberty House Group from Longs Steel UK/Tata Steel, with the aim of preserving the site and securing jobs. However, the site's future remained uncertain in late 2017 when Liberty offered redundancy packages to its workforce.
A few months later, Liberty Group owner Sanjeev Gupta announced a £1 billion investment in Scotland under his Greensteel production strategy, though the specifics of that investment were unclear. In 2020, part of the GFG Alliance group that owns Liberty House confirmed plans to build a hotel on the eastern portion of the Clydebridge site, with further development possibilities being considered. These plans were short-lived, however, as they were canceled due to Liberty Group's substantial debt issues, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on productivity. By 2021, a winding-up petition issued by Companies House effectively confirmed that the Clydebridge site would not be revived.
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