Bit of history;
Founded by Dorman Long in 1917, the steel produced was used to build structures including the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Tyne Bridge and the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
Under the socialist plans of the post-Second World War Labour Party, in 1967 Dorman Long was absorbed into the newly created nationalised company, British Steel Corporation. After privatisation under Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party in 1988 to form British Steel plc, in 1999 the company merged with Netherlands-based steel maker Koninklijke Hoogovens to form Corus Group. Corus utilised the site for basic oxygen steelmaking, using iron produced at the company's Redcar blast furnace. In 2007, Corus was bought by Tata Steel.
SSI: 2012–present
In light of the termination of a large contract in 2009, Tata stopped production and 1,700 jobs were lost at the plant.
On 24 February 2011, the steelworks was purchased by Thai-based SSI. On 15 April 2012 the plant was officially reopened. On 18 September 2015, production was paused due to the decline in steel prices. On 28 September 2015, the plant was "mothballed" amid poor steel trading conditions across the world and a drop in steel prices. On 2 October, the owner of the site, SSI UK, entered liquidation. On 12 October 2015 the receiver announced there was no realistic prospect of finding a buyer and the coke ovens would be extinguished.
The explore;
So on what I am pretty sure was the grimmest night of 2015 with the wind approaching 60mph myself and Raz made the trip to Redcar. At first we had only planned to recce the site in order to return for another night... but after walking for 3 hours amongst the sand dunes we silently decided we had come too far not to succeed. It took a lot of waiting, crawling and sprinting between cover and at one point laying on our backs with the security truck headlights pointing straight at us from about 10ft away to get close, and one final scramble up a very loose rock face and we were in. It took us just over 4 hours to get in from leaving the car, bur being stood under that brain in the centre, made the bruises, the aches, and the coke in our hair and eyes so worth it. Getting out was a rushed job, neither of us wishing to stay any longer as we were both exhausted by his point and somehow, we pulled it off. Massive confidence boost for us and this place is honestly the first place I've been truly proud of pulling off.
Waiting for the next patrol to pass...
Thanks for looking
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