Business
£75m forward order book for thriving Chatteris company includes nuclear waste storage contracts
“Nuclear decommissioning is a demanding but developing market that Metalcraft has specifically targeted in recent years”.
A Chatteris company that began life in the High Street in 1864 and now employs 130 people, has announced new contracts that boosts its forward order book to more than £75m over the next six years.
Stainless Metalcraft says it is gearing up to increase its production capacity to fulfil two national contracts that aim to make safe nuclear waste for long-term storage of the UK’s legacy of nuclear assets.
Metalcraft has been awarded the release of the next production phase of a contract to produce stainless steel waste containers that will be used to store intermediate level legacy waste.
HRH Princess Anne visited Metalcraft in 2019 and watched a demonstration of robotic welding as part of her tour.
Additionally, Metalcraft has secured a contract from a new client to prepare concrete waste containers to support decommissioning of the now-retired fleet of UK nuclear power plants.
Austen Adams, divisional managing director of Avingtrans PLC – the owners of Stainless Metalcraft – said: “We are proud to be a part of this national mission of utmost importance.
“Winning these additional contracts is a testament to our production capability in Cambridgeshire and the incredible potential of our team members, who are highly skilled and ready to tackle these new challenges in the future decommissioning market.
“This challenge highlights the finest aspects of UK manufacturing while the benefit of a large forward order book enable us to invest in the people essential to the success of the challenge. We are looking forward to fulfilling these contracts and more to follow.’’
In the next 5 years Metalcraft has ambitious plans to grow the business to more than three times its current turnover. It hopes to create significant employment opportunities for the area and help increase the general prosperity of the town.
A Metalcraft spokesperson added: “Nuclear decommissioning is a demanding but developing market that Metalcraft has specifically targeted in recent years.
“We have invested £7.5 million in new plant and equipment at our production facility to support the contracts, including modern CNC machine tools and robotic welding machines.”
The spokesperson said that anticipating future demand, Metalcraft has also invested £3.4m in a new training facility to manage the supply of skilled personnel to meet anticipated demands of nuclear decommissioning.
The spokesperson said Metalcraft “is now ready to increase serial production of nuclear containers that meet rigorous specification criteria and proves the company’s ability to deliver highly specialised contracts”.
TRAINING CENTRE
Managed and operated by West Suffolk College, the training centre was built within the Stainless Metalcraft site with the help of a £3.16m grant from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Business Board’s Local Growth Fund and opened last November.
A further £36,179 was provided by the Combined Authority through Fenland District Council’s Growing Fenland Chatteris Masterplan, to provide ICT equipment and software to help support local skills development.
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