Ravenscraig is a village and

new town New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

, located in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, around 1½ miles east of

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

. Ravenscraig was formerly the site of

Ravenscraig steelworks The Ravenscraig steelworks, operated by Colvilles and from 1967 by British Steel Corporation, consisted of an integrated iron and steel works and a hot strip steel mill. They were located in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. Motherwell ...

; once the largest hot strip steel mill in western Europe, the steelworks closed in 1992, and is now almost totally demolished. After over two decades of lying derelict, the empty land was redeveloped in the 2010s, with new houses and services being built, and the formation of Ravenscraig as a self sufficient community. The main contributors to this project were Wilson Bowden Developments Ltd, Scottish Enterprise and

Tata Steel Europe Tata Steel Europe Ltd. (formerly Corus Group plc) was a steelmaking company headquartered in London, England, with its main operations in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The company was created in 2007, when Tata Group took over the ...

Location

Located in North Lanarkshire, Ravenscraig lies between the towns of Wishaw and

and the villages of Carfin and

Newarthill Newarthill is a village in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, situated roughly three miles north-east of the town of Motherwell. It has a population of around 6,200. Most local amenities are shared with the adjacent villages of Carfin, Holytown and Ne ...

, an area with a combined population of over 120,000. Ravenscraig is only some ten minutes drive from both the M74 and the M8 motorways, which lead to Glasgow and Edinburgh – Scotland's two largest cities – respectively. A rail line travels directly through the site and another travels around the opposite end of the site.

History

Ravenscraig Steel Works, as well as the former settlement of the same title, took its name from the nearby secluded cliff face called Ravenscraig. This translates as Raven's Cliff or Cliff of the Ravens. It is situated in the valley of the North Calder Water, north of the steelworks site. This is first shown on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey Map of 1859. A major expansion of Colvilles, the largest steel manufacturer in the United Kingdom before World War II, was approved in July 1954 by the Iron and Steel Board.Campbell, R. H. (1958). ''Iron and Steel''. Chapter 5, In: Cunnison, J. and Gilfillan, J. B. S. (Editors) (1958). ''The Third Statistical Account of Scotland'', Volume V, ''The City of Glasgow''. Glasgow: William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. In 1954 the first stages of development began in Ravenscraig, turning a green field into a site for steelworks. By 1957 several coke ovens, a by-products plant, a blast furnace and an open hearth melting shop with three steelmaking

furnaces A furnace is a structure in which heat is produced with the help of combustion. Furnace may also refer to: Appliances Buildings * Furnace (central heating): a furnace , or a heater or boiler , used to generate heat for buildings * Boiler, used t ...

were built, and by 1959 a stripmill was complete. The closure of Ravenscraig in 1992 signalled the end of large-scale steel making in Scotland,Stratton, Michael and Trinder, Barry (2000). ''Twentieth Century Industrial Archaeology''. London: E & FN Spon. . and was the cause of a loss of 770 jobs, with another 10,000 job losses directly and indirectly linked to the closure.

Current state

Prior to regeneration, Ravenscraig was one of the largest derelict sites in Europe measuring over in size, an area equivalent to 700 football pitches or twice the size of Monaco. Over the course of several years, separate new build estates were constructed across the old sites, connected by a central road network that runs through to Carfin. The massive sports facility was one of the first buildings to be constructed and one of the largest of its kind in Scotland, catering to a number of different sports. Plans are also underway to stop the decontamination of the

South Calder Water The South Calder Water, known locally as "The Cawder", or simply "Calder", is a river in Scotland. It runs west from the high plateau between Shotts and Fauldhouse to its joining with the much larger River Clyde. The high plateau is also the wa ...

in the area, which suffered from the industrial activity and toxic chemicals. There are also plantations designed to encourage diversity in the site wildlife, including reforestation of local woodland. As of 2021, there exists thousands of newly built homes and several pubs in the area, however the project is not fully completed.

Regeneration

After many years of planning, Ravenscraig was to be 'regenerated' and rebuilt by three equal shareholders: Wilson Bowden Developments Ltd, Scottish Enterprise and

Tata Steel Tata Steel Limited is an Indian multinational steel-making company, based in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand and headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a part of the Tata Group. Formerly known as Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited (TISCO), Tata ...

. The project was one of the largest regenerations in Europe, with being developed. Ravenscraig would be home to several new facilities: Part of the development was to create new habitats for the wildlife already living in the area, such as deer, foxes,

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...

s, badgers,

watervole The European water vole or northern water vole (''Arvicola amphibius''), is a semi-aquatic rodent. It is often informally called the water rat, though it only superficially resembles a true rat. Water voles have rounder noses than rats, deep brow ...

butterflies Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...

and birds such as the wader,

song thrush The song thrush (''Turdus philomelos'') is a Thrush (bird), thrush that breeds across the West Palearctic. It has brown upper-parts and black-spotted cream or buff underparts and has three recognised subspecies. Its distinctive Birdsong, song, ...

and the

little ringed plover The little ringed plover (''Charadrius dubius'') is a small plover. The genus name ''Charadrius'' is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. It derives from Ancient Greek ''kharadrios'' a bird found in river ...

, with an Ecological Clerk of Works appointed to 'ensure compliance with Ravenscraig Ltd.’s aims and objectives by all developers and contractors.' The new £29 million sports complex (completed October 2010) was used as training camps for the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London and the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

in Glasgow. The complex was also the host facility for the 2011 International Children's Games.

Debates

The plans for the regeneration generated a certain amount of controversy; local residents and businesses were worried about the proposed shopping facilities. It is feared that new shopping facilities in the town centre will destroy jobs and nearby businesses and town centres (e.g. Motherwell and Wishaw) will suffer. Nearby shopping centres such as Motherwell Shopping Centre, the

Regent Shopping Centre Hamilton ( sco, Hamiltoun; gd, Baile Hamaltan ) is a large town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It serves as the main administrative centre of the South Lanarkshire council area. It sits south-east of Glasgow, south-west of Edinburgh and nort ...

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

and East Kilbride Shopping Centre have complained that new shopping facilities may take away their regular customers, a statement that North Lanarkshire Council leader Jim McCabe disputes.

Ravenscraig today

The first major development, the new Motherwell College, was the first to be completed. The building aimed to attract in excess of 20,000 students. The new regional sports facility was also completed and opened on 4 October 2010. The final part of Phase One, which is construction of houses to the north of the new town, was next to begin. The housing development of Phoenix Park will eventually hold 850 new homes, some of which had been completed by 2012. Also, another important step towards full completion of the project has been met, with funding being approved for the second phase. Phase two of the construction, which includes shopping facilities, was planned to start around mid-2012. A new dual carriageway that would link the new town with the M8 and M74 motorways has been given approval, with an extra £10 million to bring the project forward agreed in June 2012. The new carriageway would also travel through neighboring North Lanarkshire settlements, Motherwell and Carfin. In September 2012, the first building of a new

BRE British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...

Innovation Park was opened, with the visitor centre building officially completed. A total of ten energy-efficient buildings were expected to be built in the park. On 14 November 2012, plans were also un-veiled to build a new

Marston's Marston's plc is a British pub and hotel operator. Founded by John Marston in 1834, it is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Marston's disposed of its brewing operations in 2020, selling the assets to a newly formed joint venture with the Ca ...

pub-restaurant directly to the north-east of the Sports Facility. Despite favorable first impressions, the proposal did not receive planning permission at the time. Progress slowed on the development due to adverse economic factors, and a revised masterplan was submitted in 2018, being approved the following year. The planning report, which differed from the earlier master vision with the amount of retail space reduced by around 60% and no short term prospect for a new railway station, anticipated that progress would be slow but steady across the site, not being completed until around 2045.Revised Ravenscraig Masterplan
Cooper Cromar architects, 14 September 2018

Transport

As part of the regeneration, the transport links to Ravenscraig will be greatly improved. There will be a new transport interchange within walking distance of the new town centre offering bus services to Glasgow and Lanark. There will be easy access to public transport throughout the site including dedicated business routes. There will also be a new railway station built that will link to the broader public transport network. The Argyle Line travels through the area, so trains could easily travel to major Scottish railway stations such as Glasgow Central from Ravenscraig. In future, the Greenlink Cycle Path may be extended to connect Ravenscraig with a direct route to

Strathclyde Country Park Strathclyde Country Park is a country park located on the outskirts of Motherwell in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, named after the former Strathclyde region of Scotland. It is often commonly referred to as Strathclyde, or simply Strathy. De ...

Motherwell FC

The local professional football team,

Motherwell Football Club Motherwell Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Motherwell have not dropped out of the top-flight of Scottish football since 1985, and have lif ...

is one of the possible purchasers of the site for a new stadium, leaving behind their home of 113 years, Fir Park. In 2008, Mark McGhee, then-manager of the club, had said that he and the directors held tentative discussions with North Lanarkshire Council about building the new stadium on the site. Despite indications that the move may be in procress of becoming a reality, a move to Ravenscraig in the short-term would be impossible.

Location Grid

References

External links

Official development website

Steeling Back Memories (Ravenscraig)
at ''Culture NL'' {{authority control Motherwell New towns in Scotland Neighbourhoods in North Lanarkshire