A recent meeting at the Teesworks Skills Academy finished unexpectedly early, so I took an opportunity to reprise part of the official Teesworks Tour from November 2024. You can read about that here.
See the sights
My tour started at the Teesworks Lackenby zone and ended at the South Bank zone, taking in the Dorman Point zone en route. These three zones can seen on the left of the map below:
The more detailed walking route is shown below as a black line, with the start point at the bottom of the map:
Where to start?
Well, why not Lackenby steelworks? Yes parts of British Steel on Teesside survive. Although, given recent events in Washington DC and Scunthorpe, it may not last for much longer. I was fortunate to get a lift from the Teesworks Skills Academy to this point, but it is easily reached by bus. The main entrance to the steelworks is off a roundabout on the A1085 Trunk Road between Grangetown and Redcar. The star attraction here is the Teesside Beam Mill, completed by Dorman Long in 1958 and still exporting its products all over the world.
Reflected glory
But, before I go any further, it’s important to note that British Steel’s Lackenby steelworks has got nothing to do with Teesworks. They’re just neighbours, though it does fall within the Teesside Freeport zone. Also, British Steel isn’t British; it’s owned by a Chinese company called Jingye. Furthermore, despite all of the Teesworks “zones” dotted along the south bank of the river Tees, Teesworks Limited hardly owns any land. It’s mostly in the hands of the South Tees Development Corporation (STDC).
Land Snatch
Teesworks only cherry-picks small pockets of developed land, such as South Bank Quay and the NZT plot at the former Redcar steelworks. But it’s not even true that the STDC owns land anymore, since it transferred ownership of its property to South Tees Developments Limited (STDL) in January 2024.
Teesworks Lackenby
So, leaving aside the fact that it hardly owns any land, Teesworks does have a small zone to the east and south of Lackenby steelworks. The Teesworks Estate Offices can be found just inside the main gate to British Steel Lackenby on the Trunk Road between Grangetown and Redcar. They may or may not be operated by the Tees Estate Management Company (TEMCo). The previous estate offices were on the Redcar steelworks site, but they appear to have been closed now.
Services Complex, Transport Hub, Truck Stop, whatever
Moving south west towards Grangetown, I reached the site of the future transport hub, on the right hand side of the Trunk Road. This is not to be confused with the Redcar Park & Ride, under construction about 1.2 miles further along towards Redcar. Both facilities are labelled transport hubs, and it’s easy to understand why people get confused.
A change of plans at Teesworks? Sounds familiar
Plans for the transport hub were first submitted in March 2023. The plans, shown here, were ambitious at that stage, including a 160-bed hotel and a parade of shops. However, just over a year later, in June 2024, the proposal, seen here, was very different. It had morphed from a “Services Complex” into a “Major Transport Hub”, with no mention of the hotel or shops.
Actual product may vary
Keen Ben Houchen watchers have seen this sort of thing happen time and time again over the past eight years. The new hub was partly planned to serve Teesside’s Electric Arc Furnace, a project that almost certainly won’t go ahead now.
Get your kicks on Route 66
I turned right from the Trunk Road at the next roundabout into the A1053 Tees Dock Road, and headed for the junction with the A66. The entrance to the transport hub will be built on the right hand side of the roundabout pictured below:
The entrance to the transport hub will cut through this green concrete barrier:
Power failure
The Teesworks ‘Lackenby’ zone can be seen behind the barrier. The transport hub will be built to the right, where the heaps of rubble can be seen. The red brick building towards the centre is an electricity substation. This is due to be replaced by a much larger one, built by Steel River Power Limited, a joint venture between North West Electricity Networks (UK) Limited and Steel River Energy Limited.
A Teesworks Joint Venture, you say?
The latter is owned by Martin Corney and Chris Musgrave. The public is left with a 5% share in this joint venture through Steel River Energy Ltd. The proposed site of Tees Green Hydrogen can be seen to the left. That was proposed in November 2023, and is on a long list of Teesworks projects which may get built some day.
Electric Arc Lark
To the right, the proposed site of the Electric Arc Furnace can be seen to the right of the light blue coloured steel mill. The chances of this furnace ever being built are receding into the distance. The leader of Redcar & Cleveland Council, Alec Brown, submitted an alternative proposal to turn this site into an inland version of Redcar Beach. Features will include Frosty Penguin’s Putting Adventure, a boating lake and a vertical pier. But close inspection of this proposal revealed that it was released on 1 April.
Crazy name, crazy lady
Heading down Tees Dock Road, we reach the site of Knitting Wife Beck Power Plant. This is a small gas-fired power station, named after Knitting Wife Beck, which is culverted beneath here.
Crustacean die-off
Knitting Wife Beck flows just west of, and parallel to, Tees Dock Road for about another half a mile. An artificial water channel once fed water into this beck from Holme Beck, over to the west near the Teesworks Skills Academy. The channel used to cut across what is now the Dorman Point zone from west to east. Pollution from this channel may have been connected to the Tees Bay crustacean die-off that occurred in October 2021, but the link has never been proven. More information can be found in a Tees Valley Monitor article from November 2022 here.
Twilight zone
After 200 metres I reached a road junction. To the left, Teesworks’ Dorman Point zone, and the entrance to the former Grangetown railway station. The entrance is blocked by a locked gate. To the right, the Teesworks Lackenby zone, and the side entrance to Lackenby steelworks. This part of Tees Dock Road is prone to severe flooding, most recently in October 2024, not helped by the existence of the nearby subterranean Knitting Wife Beck. The overbridge in the background contains a closed industrial railway and an internal road between the Teesworks Dorman Point and Lackenby zones. Next to this, a pipe bridge is part of Teesside’s extensive utilities/infrastructure corridor.
I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
About another 300 metres further along, Tees Dock Road is crossed by four bridges. Two of these are internal steelworks road bridges, another contains a disused industrial railway, and the fourth is a working railway used for deliveries of steel blooms from Scunthorpe steelworks to Lackenby.
I’ll bring steel making back to Teesside
However, it’s now almost certain that the two remaining blast furnaces at Scunthorpe will close within days. It’s not known at this stage how this will affect Lackenby, but presumably they will need to source their steel from elsewhere, possibly from outside of the UK. The former Steel Export Terminal at Tees Dock could be repurposed for steel imports, but the irony of that situation wouldn’t be lost on Teessiders. At Grangetown signal box on the Middlesbrough to Saltburn railway line, a set of Network Rail steps allows access from Tees Dock Road to the Black Path.
The path with four names
The Black Path is also known as the Sailor’s Trod. It’s also part of the Teesdale Way and the King Charles III England Coast Path. I wrote about my journey along this route, from Middlesbrough to the South Gare, in August last year. You can read about that here.
A short diversion
I was due to head west from here, but I took a short diversion in the other direction, about 100 metres east along the Black Path, to the footbridge over Kinkerdale Beck. This photo, taken from the other side of the footbridge shows, from left to right:
- Pipes forming part of the utilities corridor
- Kinkerdale Beck emerging from its culvert under the Lackenby zone
- The main sewage pipeline from Teesside to Brans Sands treatment plant
- The Black Path footbridge
- The Middlesbrough to Saltburn railway line
Spaghetti Junction
Looking north from the same point we can see, from left to right:
- The SLEMS hazardous waste tip
- MGT biomass plant (it has never opened)
- Kinkerdale Beck (hidden from view)
- The main utilities corridor, heading north to where it tunnels beneath the river Tees
- Cranes on the west side of Tees Dock
Kinkerdale Beck runs parallel to Knitting Wife Beck, to the west. The streams merge behind the SLEMs waste tip to form Lackenby Channel, which then enters the river Tees just west of Tees Dock.
No trains today
Returning west along the Black Path, we reach the closed subway entrance to Grangetown railway station. At this point, the Teesworks South Bank zone is on the other side of the railway line, with the Dorman Point zone behind the camera.
Just north of the Black Path, the Highfield Environmental landfill site can be seen. This tip was created by ICI in the 1950s, and is an active landfill site, with a licence to dispose of hazardous waste.
Teesside’s Top Toxic Tip
Next to Highfield Environmental is High Tip, where slag has been tipped since 1851. The tip contains over 4 millions tonnes of waste, much of which is hazardous, and Teesworks has admitted that it will never be remediated. Teesworks’ spokesman Neil Young has confirmed that dust from High Tip is a problem for the neighbouring SeAH Wind factory.
The Teesworks Dorman Point zone is now on our left. There are about five gaps in the fence where panels have collapsed. The main sewage pipe can be seen in the background, along with some industrial pipes which are probably disused.
At one point a fence panel has collapsed into the Black Path, and you have no alternative but to trespass into Teesworks’ land to get past it. I have reported this blockage to the local authority, Redcar and Cleveland Council, who manage this section of the coast path on behalf of National Trails.
The path then bridges across the old former slag railway between two former British Steel plants, which ran under the main line at right angles. But there are dangerous holes in the surface of the bridge. Teesworks is supposed to be building a road bridge across the railway line here, to connect the Dorman Point and South Bank zones, but it is unlikely that this will ever happen.
Publicity Stunt
Directly across from this bridge on the other side of the line is SeAH Wind. This factory was announced on 14 February 2022, but several deadlines have been missed, and it hasn’t fully opened yet.
About another 100 metres along the Black Path, there’s another gap in the fence, presenting another opportunity for trespass into the Dorman Point zone for anybody who may choose to do so. This is the proposed site of the Tees Valley Energy Recovery Facility (TVERF), a controversial proposed incinerator.
Looking above this fence, Teesworks Skills Academy can be seen in the distance, to the immediate right of the Heras fencing. The proposed TVERF is intended to be located between this viewpoint and the Academy.
Teesside Freeport
Just along from SeAH Wind, the Teesside Freeport Customs Site No.1 is being erected. It will be the main customs site for the Freeport. But there’s not much activity above ground at this stage. There seems to be some foot-dragging here. Teesside Freeport was first announced in October 2021. And yet customs facilities, which you would assume to be a key part of the Freeport offer, don’t seem to be a priority. Has the importance of Teesside Freeport been exaggerated? I know what you’re thinking.
By a coincidence, the daily steel train from Scunthorpe to Lackenby went past.
South Bank railway station
After a couple of minutes I reached South Bank railway station. The footbridge here was closed as an emergency measure due to corrosion in October 2024. It isn’t expected to open for several months. Eastbound trains can’t use the station because of this, so a replacement bus service operates between Middlesbrough and South Bank stations.
Your visit
If you want to take this walking tour, take the 62 Arriva bus from Middlesbrough Bus Station to the Lackenby steelworks main entrance. Buses run every 30 minutes. The walk itself takes about an hour, but ground conditions can be difficult, and boots are recommended. The route can become overgrown with brambles for much of the year. You can return to Middlesbrough by rail. Services run hourly from South Bank station. Middlesbrough bound trains are not affected by the footbridge closure.
The Unofficial Teesworks Tour – Part Two
In the near future, I’ll complete the unofficial tour by visiting the remaining Teesworks zones, focusing on the area around the former Redcar steelworks.
Graphics and additional research provided by James Waterson
Further reading
Teesworks: the largest brownfield site in Europe? – Part one
Dated 3 January 2025, can be found here
Teesworks: the largest brownfield site in Europe? – Part two
Dated 10 January 2025, can be found here
Teesworks: the largest brownfield site in Europe? – Part three
Dated 18 January 2025, can be found here
