Case study: Steel giant among region's firms hoping for boost that could see thousands of new jobs

HUNDREDS of firms based right across the Yorkshire region could see huge benefits if its eastern port becomes a major hub for the production of offshore wind turbines.

While the establishment of large new turbine factories and research and development facilities would in themselves create several thousand new jobs, the knock-on effect for many more businesses in the region would potentially be even greater.

Experts suggest at least 10,000 new jobs could be created as engineering firms, environmental assessors, project managers, vessel and service operators and scores of component and manufacturers reaped the benefits of the huge new industry.

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South Yorkshire steel giant Sheffield Forgemasters recently received a massive boost from growth in the nuclear industry, with contracts to build parts for the UK's next generation of nuclear power stations creating 180 jobs.

Director Peter Birtles is hopeful the firm will see similar benefits if the campaign to bring wind turbine manufacturing to the Yorkshire region proves successful.

"We are absolutely behind this 100 per cent," he said. "It is certainly on our radar - power generation is very central to much of our activity here. We want to manufacture parts for these wind turbines."

Mr Birtles said the company's vast experience spanning several decades in casting offshore support structures for oil rig platforms around the world and in designing and constructing turbine shafts should stand it in good stead for helping build parts for the huge 400ft offshore turbines.

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"We would very much like to be in competition for that manufacturing work," he said. "It's difficult to be specific, but it would clearly underpin the security of the 800 current employees by having the input of this work. And it would be easy to see another 100 employees, another 100 jobs being generated simply to handle this.

"Then what you have to take into account that probably for every job we create here, another job is created further down our supply chain in terms of suppliers of raw materials and so on. So you can see the benefits not just for us but across South Yorkshire."

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