British steel firms and government initiatives are accelerating the shift towards domestic, circular steel production, promising lower embodied carbon and resilient supply chains amid industry and policy momentum.
Right across the construction sector, embodied carbon, material transparency and supply‑chain resilience are now shaping decisions about how projects are specified and delivered. According to the lead article in PBC Today, Carles Rovira, CEO of 7 Steel UK, a...
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rgues that circular, UK‑made steel , recovered from domestic scrap, melted in Electric Arc Furnaces (EAFs) and remanufactured into new products , can help the industry meet net‑zero ambitions while strengthening supply chains.
The case for domestic circular steel rests on three linked advantages: reducing embodied carbon, improving traceability and shortening volatile international supply chains. Industry data shows the UK generates millions of tonnes of steel scrap each year; PBC Today notes more than 8m tonnes are produced annually, while a coalition of steel producers and metal recyclers places the figure closer to 10m tonnes and warns that more than 80% of that scrap is exported. According to the coalition’s report, it is currently often cheaper to export scrap and import finished steel than to process and manufacture domestically, a dynamic that transfers value and jobs overseas and exposes construction projects to global market fluctuations.
7 Steel UK presents a different model: a closed‑loop, UK‑based process in which collected scrap is processed through the company’s recycling network, melted in an EAF, cast into billets and rolled into long products for domestic use. The company says this approach delivers clearer product origin, Environmental Product Declarations and third‑party certifications that help specifiers demonstrate compliance with evolving client and policy expectations. The PBC Today piece stresses that EAF technology, particularly as the UK’s electricity grid decarbonises, is a lower‑carbon alternative to traditional blast‑furnace routes and allows recycled material to remain in circulation for longer.
Government and sector initiatives are increasingly aligned with that ambition. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has backed four Manufacturing Research Hubs for a Sustainable Future with £44 million of funding through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the agency says, aiming to create net‑zero supply chains, resilient manufacturing and new skills in areas such as green steel and recycled plastics. The hubs are explicitly charged with cutting carbon, boosting regional economies and generating high‑value jobs , objectives that map directly onto the case for onshore, circular steel production.
Major domestic producers are also pursuing circular approaches. Tata Steel UK reports it now recycles 98% of its by‑products and is developing technologies, including HIsarna, designed to increase the proportion of scrap used in primary production and enable a circular economy in which steel is reused and recycled without loss of quality. Such technological shifts, combined with policy and investment support, would reduce the economic incentives to export scrap and instead capture more of the value chain within the UK.
Still, important barriers remain. The industry coalition highlighted in the UK Steel briefing calls on government to act quickly to “unlock the full economic and environmental potential” of the nation’s scrap resource, noting the current cost dynamics that favour export. For circular domestic steel to scale, investment will be needed in collection and processing infrastructure, EAF capacity and skills training, alongside policy measures that alter the relative economics of exporting scrap versus producing finished steel at home.
For construction specifiers the practical implications are straightforward. Choosing UK‑made circular steel can lower embodied carbon, improve material traceability and reduce the risk of disruption from international market volatility. According to PBC Today, 7 Steel UK has supplied products for major infrastructure schemes from rail to renewable energy, and the company positions circularity not as a future aspiration but as an operational reality built over two decades since its EAF was commissioned.
As the UK pursues net zero and industrial resilience, circular steelmaking offers a route that aligns environmental objectives with economic and strategic goals. Government funding for research hubs, technological developments in recycling and primary production, and calls from industry groups to retain and process scrap domestically all point to a policy window in which closed‑loop steel manufacture could shift from niche to mainstream. The scale and speed of that shift will depend on coordinated action across industry and government to change the incentives that now send high‑value scrap abroad and to invest in the domestic capacity to turn that resource into low‑carbon steel for UK construction projects.
Source: Noah Wire Services
