York is the Railway City, but it is now also the Steel City, discovers Business Editor RON GODFREY as he meets the boss of Tata Steel Projects.

THERE is a lot of steel in the York economy…and it’s growing massively.

No sooner had rail infrastructure firm Jarvis collapsed, when Tata Steel Projects moved into its empty HQ at Meridian House off Blossom Street, York last September.

It’s a fine five-storey building with plenty of elbow room and expansion space for the firm’s 200 plus staff – about 30 of them recruited in recent months – and the panoramic view from its top balcony features York Minster and the sprawling track lines of the Railway City.

But Craig Scott, Tata Steel Projects’ 52-year-old managing director, is as precise as you would expect a chartered civil engineer to be when he asks our photographer to steer away from the railway background.

It’s understandable. The firm’s roots may at one time have been exclusively rail orientated, but now it also reflects much wider projects in industries as diverse as energy and power, security and defence markets.

Those beginnings were in York and unquestionably rail-minded – in its role as British Rail Civil Engineering Design Group, which ultimately conducted business from Hudson House just inside the city walls.

But over the years from 1995 it evolved into a multidisciplinary design consultancy called Corus Infrastructure Services.

Then in 2007, the Corus group was acquired by the Tata Steel Group, part of the huge global conglomerate which has among its organisations, Jaguar Land Rover and Tetley Tea.

So the York set-up is now part of one of the largest manufacturers and employers in the UK, with 41,000 UK Tata employees, generating more than £11 billion revenue. It is also one of the biggest spenders in the UK on research and development, lashing out nearly half a billion pounds per year.

For the past seven months the York venture has been rebranded from Corus to Tata Steel and, apart from its York HQ, has a 350-people workshop in Workington and offices in Birmingham, Manchester, Teesside and Reading.

Not that Mr Scott wants to get away from rail projects. He says he is proud to remain a crucial part of the traditions of the Railway City and the blockbuster rail projects commissioned from his company reflect this.

Tata Steel Projects is, for example, the principal design consultant for the £500 million Kings Cross Station redevelopment, including designing its barrel-shaped roof, the refurbishment of station platforms, creating a new station footbridge and extending the size of the concourse.

Then there’s the £850 million Reading Station area redevelopment where as principal designer, the firm has been creating the detailed platform canopies.

It is also playing serious roles in the £100 million North London Line multidisciplinary project which includes overhead electrification, 130 new structures and mechanical engineering; as well as being consultants for the Network Rail Tier 1 Framework, creating feasibility and detailed designs in the LNE, LNW, Midland & Western territories.

Tata is the preferred design consultancy supplier for all of England and Wales, with the exception of the south east. And, in passing, his firm had patented a modular platform in steel, creating stopping points away from rail traffic so beneficial to rail companies that it has completed 77 so far in England and France.

So, according to Mr Scott, remaining in York, the railway hub, was a “no brainer.”

He said: “The city is a magnet for the type of people we employ, a good talent pool for strong engineering skills and we are a few hundred yards away from the railway station which some of our staff use to commute.

“People who come to York want to stay because it is so attractive, a fantastic place to live and work.” Also some of his key customers are based in York, including Network Rail which has a big presence in the city.

But away from the rail projects, its involvement in other industries is just as spectacular, as Mr Scott proves by playing a video of a 40-tonne truck testing his firm’s Bi-Steel barriers by smashing headlong into them at speed – and coming off distinctly worse for wear.

It is one of the products used in the security and defence market and is worth about £5 million per year.

Much of Tata Steel Projects’ work in these sectors and its decommissioning of nuclear power stations is hush-hush, but it is worth shouting from the rooftops its “green” credentials, helping to design, build and install wind, tide and nuclear power generation facilities.

Two of the most spectacular are its futuristic designs for energy from waste plants both at Oxford and Cornwall.

“We are preferred bidder in a number of civil, structural and geo-technical projects,” he says proudly.


Chief’s experience

CRAIG Scott knows the power of steel, having joined the business eight years ago; and is armed with extensive experience of business management and project delivery across the industrial, highways and railway sectors in the UK as well as Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Asia.

His early career was with Freeman Fox, Halcrow and Atkins working on highways and railway projects at home and abroad.

He worked in Pakistan on road projects for two years and for two years lived in Denmark where he was deputy managing director of a large railway consultancy business.

He has held a number of executive positions within Tata Steel and Corus before its acquisition by Tata Steel, including director of Tata Steel UK Rail Consultancy and executive director of GrantRail. He is now a member of the senior management team of Tata Steel Long Products.