JOBS are safe at a foundry gutted by a huge fire as bosses promise the business will rise from the ashes.

Management at Shakespeare Foundry in Salop Street say they hope the three-storey building, which was destroyed in a blaze on Monday, can be rebuilt.

Dozens of firefighters were scrambled to the scene after the fire took hold in the casting building, one of several owned by the foundry in Salop Street.

The building was declared unsafe by Bolton Council’s dangerous buildings inspector on Tuesday — because it is feared the remaining parts of the roof could fall in.

Neil Walton, Shakespeare Foundry’s finance director, said about 20 employees who work in the casting building are currently on paid leave.

He said the company has no current plans to make redundancies, with bosses hoping the building will be safe to be rebuilt and will not have to be demolished.

Mr Walton said: “What we can say at this point in time is that none of the workforce have lost their jobs.

“We have a number of buildings at Shakespeare Foundry, and only one of these has been damaged.

“That building has been locked down and cannot be accessed until the structure is made safe again. Work is ongoing to do that.

“In the mean time we are putting plans in place to start casting again as quickly as possible to ensure we continue delivering to customers.

"There is a degree of hope among the management that we can castings made again within weeks.

“We are only telling our employees what we know to be absolutely true on a day to day basis. At the moment it does not look like anyone will be laid off.”

Mr Walton said structural engineers are currently assessing the building, and will use an aerial platform to analyse the damage to the roof.

He added: "It's very difficult to calculate the damage but we are talking about tens of thousands of pounds just to get the building in a safe state."

Shakespeare Foundry, which was established in 1982 and employs about 50 people in total, specialises in making heat-resistant steel plates for the cement and mining industries.

An official fire inspection report explaining the cause of the blaze is yet to be published, but there are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances.

Firefighters who worked on the blaze told the Bolton News it could have been started by a spark.

Mr Walton said the fire broke out in a different area to where casting in the foundry takes place, and did not start as a result of the casting process.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service said firefighters left Salop Street at 9.20pm on Tuesday.

He added: “Our fire safety officer visited the site yesterday.

“We will continue to work with everyone involved in the incident to establish the cause of the fire.”