In The Shadow of Ravenscraig

The Liberty Steel Dalzell plant in Motherwell has existed and operated in the long afterlife of Ravenscraig. For those who have spent their lives in steel, both plants share a strong bond. William McWhinnie, now Chief Engineer after 41 years at the plant, remembers the day Ravenscraig’s cooling towers fell. “We all watched the demolition from here… we could see the helicopters… then the explosions, the noise and then the collapse of the towers,” he recalls. “It was sad because Ravenscraig was the flagship of steel making.” The spectacle of the demolition was followed by an eerie silence: “Everybody just walked back to their workstations in silence thinking – are we next?”

That question has never fully gone away. The closure of Ravenscraig in 1992 severed a direct industrial lifeline—“that’s where we got our slab supply from – straight in the backdoor through the railway routes that connected us.” The plant is now “an island site,” dependent on materials transported from hundreds of miles away, adding further pressure to an already fragile system. In its aftermath came uncertainty, and for many, departure. “A lot of people… left in a huge exodus thinking the end was inevitable,” McWhinnie says. Aged 27 at the time of Ravenscraig’s closure, he too felt the weight of it, “wondering what I would do if our place were to close.” Yet he stayed, working through decades of ownership changes and recurring downturns that seemed to follow a pattern. “There has been a cycle every several years… it slows right down and people leave—but I just hung on here.”

Chief Engineer – William McWhinnie – Dalzell Steelworks

Recent years have brought another of those difficult cycles into sharp focus. Production at Dalzell has been paused since mid-2024, leaving the plant in a prolonged state of inactivity and workers navigating short-term arrangements and uncertainty about the future. The workforce, now around 115, is currently between rolling campaigns, with many remaining at home on reduced hours and receiving around 85% of their wages—a holding pattern that reflects both the fragility of the present and the hope of restarting. A handful of workers remain on site, keeping the machinery running, testing, and preparing for when the rolling process can begin again.

William Wilson – longest serving worker at the plant, who started as a trainee back in 1975.

William Wilson, who first joined the plant in 1975, has cancelled retirement plans several times because he “loves the place that much and couldn’t leave.” Now working part-time across multiple senior roles, Wilson describes the current situation: “We haven’t rolled since July 2024… and we need to start the whole process again.” For Wilson, the future of Dalzell now hinges less on capital than on human continuity. Restarting is not simple— money is always a challenge, but “the biggest challenge is people—because a lot of people have left.” Skills in mechanical and electrical work are not easily replaced, and “this is a niche industry and we need specialised people.” Yet attracting the next generation remains difficult. “It’s hard to find young people interested in the industry,” he says, reflecting on a career that began as a trainee metallurgist—“and there are very few metallurgists today.”

Thirty years after the demolition of Ravenscraig, and with heavy political influence still at play, Dalzell today stands as a site actively negotiating its future. McWhinnie is clear about what he wants to see: “Like to see this keep going and to keep the steel industry alive – we all want that – and hopefully create futures and get apprentices in again and build it back up again.” Wilson, still working after more than fifty years in the plant, expresses that same commitment in simpler terms: “I’m always hopeful though—if I wasn’t hopeful I wouldn’t be here.”