New Tees firms’ 500 jobs boost
TEESSIDE’S engineering capability is set to attract major inward investment from two international companies, creating up to 480 jobs and hundreds more across the local supply chain.
Within two months Luxembourg technology firm Paul Wurth Group will create around 80 jobs when it opens its first base on Bowesfield Lane in Stockton.
Meanwhile Costain Oil, Gas and Process - part of international engineering and construction specialist Costain Group - is giving “serious consideration” to plans for a new Teesside operation, which could create up to 400 jobs.
The news comes only weeks after rig design company RDS announced it was creating a base at Wynyard Business Park near Stockton, creating up to 200 jobs.
Chiefs from all three companies hailed the area’s skills at a networking event hosted yesterday by Tees Valley Engineering Partnership at the University of Teesside.
They said long-term engineering projects were attracting local workers back to the area.
RDS is recruiting local people who previously had moved to work overseas.
Head of engineering, Peter Brackenborough, said: “Engineering skills and resources had disappeared abroad but the engineering mentality is still here. Now local projects in the pipeline are bringing them back again.”
He said the new National Skills Academy for the Process Industries was “vital” for the future prosperity of the sector by delivering up to 8,000 extra NVQ qualifications and training an additional 800-900 apprentices.
He added: “Staff in the industry are getting older and we need to get more young people coming through the education system.”
Ron Webster, general manager of Costain Oil, Gas and Process, said that for engineering companies, Teesside was a more attractive option than the South of England or even a specialist offshore hub, such as Aberdeen.
He said: “Property in the South is way too high and in Aberdeen, competition for resources is way too high. Teesside has good office accommodation and an excellent skills set.”
Robert Goffin, general manager of Paul Wurth UK Ltd, said there was “no question” that the area had the necessary skills to compete on a world scale.
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