As Works Manager Corby, Gary Blackman said: “Despite all the uncertainty in the wider business, the downstream businesses are continuing to invest and we’re making great progress with our own site’s £30million Aurora Project.

“Our new warehouse was completed last year, and the civils work is coming along well in preparation for a new combination tube mill, which will be making tubes later this year. 

“Along with that, the land sale of the old part of the site is progressing quickly and we hope to be able to soon use the funds from that for other parts of the project such as new offices and engineering workshops.”

And talking about the work to prepare for the arrival of the new combination tube mill, Project Manager Nigel Chudley said: “This mill will be making many of our premium branded products such as Celsius, HyBox and StrongBox, so it’s going to be a real showstopper for our site. But it’s only going to be as good as the foundations it’s built on, so this is a critical phase of the project.”

He continued: “The mill will weigh about 650 tonnes and stretches about 200m. It’s critical that the foundations are not only solid but completely flat and level. The teams are currently working incredibly hard to complete all the channels for water, electrics and hydraulic systems.

“We’re expecting the mill to arrive in the next few months and plan to be making tubes in the summer.”

Gary added: “We’ve also got a £20million green steel journey, the first phase of which has been the installation of electric induction furnaces on the stretch reduction tube mill to replace the old inefficient gas-powered ones. Not only will it being environmental benefits but also speed of work and quality improvements.”

“A lot of the work has been behind the scenes, but now the workforce can see the work being done, infrastructure going in – that will give them, and our customers, huge confidence in the future of the site.
“It’s all part of getting Corby fit for the future so we’re a lean, efficient, quality tube maker that’s part of a streamlined efficient UK business.”