Global nuclear engineering group Assystem, which has Northern offices in Blackburn and Sunderland, has pledged to double its UK workforce, following the green light for the construction of the Sizewell C nuclear power plant by the UK Government yesterday (22/07/2025).
Assystem has been a key partner to EDF for over 50 years and has announced plans to create 1,000 new jobs across digital, engineering and project management jobs by 2030 to support the delivery of Sizewell C.
Roles will be created across the company’s 10 UK sites, but mainly across its larger sites, which include the two Northern bases as well as sites in Derby and Bristol – the nuclear industry is a key driver of economic growth outside of London and the South East, the company notes.
Currently Assystem’s North West hub is in Blackburn, and Sizewell C is expected to stimulate hundreds of jobs in the North West in the coming years, although the nuclear plant itself is on the Suffolk coast.
Simon Barber, managing director of Assystem UK said: “Today’s news is a major milestone for the UK as it commits to placing nuclear power and the centre of its future low-carbon electricity system.
“The deal represents the UK’s most significant public investment in clean, homegrown energy this century providing a major boost for energy security, jobs and economic growth.
“Assystem a leading company in the UK nuclear sector and we are ready to mobilise and deliver Sizewell C. We have a strong regional presence in the UK, and this means job creation from sites like Blackburn where remote engineering and project management work will be taking place.”
Yesterday’s long-awaited multibillion-pound deal, which will be paid for through taxes and energy bills, gives the final go-ahead for construction of the nuclear project, which has almost doubled in cost from when it was first proposed.
It brings together investment from the UK government and Sizewell C’s developer, the French state-owned energy group EDF, with a consortium of three other investors including the British Gas parent company, Centrica.
Sizewell C is expected to generate enough low-carbon electricity to power 6m UK homes when it begins operations in the mid to late 2030s, although an exact start date for the project has not been set by the government. The plant will create 10,000 jobs at the peak of its construction.
