Stephen Beech said now is the time to support the British economy as the steel crisis continues. The owner of £40m worth of residential housing pledges to use British steel.

Boss of Beech Holdings, said now is the time to support the British economy as the steel crisis continues. The owner of £40m worth of residential housing has made a pledge to use British steel.

The 38-year-old, known as ‘Manchester’s Restoration Man’, owns 15 Manchester city centre buildings, some of which his company have already transformed from empty and unloved sites to high-end apartments for entry-level professionals.

The Manchester-born entrepreneur’s comments come following the dramatic increase in UK imports of Chinese steel over the past two years.

He said: “We are buying a lot of steel and will be doing so going forward as we own 15 significant Manchester city-centre buildings.

“After a board meeting recently we ordered British steel for a 6-storey tower on the outskirts of Manchester straight away.”

He added: “Through renovation, you go through a lot of steel. We have a gross development pipeline of £100m so we need steel – but good quality British steel is our benchmark.

“For the economy, it is good. Where it’s possible to buy British, we are happy to do so. We should support British jobs at the end of the day.”

Beech Holdings was recently crowned the overall national winner of the 2016 Local Business Accelerators scheme.

Through that, the company has landed a year’s worth of free advertising in Britain’s biggest regional title, the Manchester Evening News.

Urmston-born Stephen’s comments come after reports claimed Tata could abandon its attempt to sell its UK steel business.

Figures from 2014 also revealed that the UK imported 687,000 tonnes of steel from China, up from 303,000 tonnes in 2013.

“If every company in the UK that needs steel bought British, the industry would be well on the way back to full health,” said Stephen.

“Being absolutely honest, I wasn’t aware until recently that there were so many cheap imports of steel.

“Chinese steel is heavily subsidised and fluctuates because China has been focusing on its export markets. That has created an unfair playing field.

“We thought about this and soon decided we wanted quality British steel going forward.”