Business Quarter - Huntsman invests £50m in TiO2

Sep 14 2006 By Helen Logan, North East Vision

What key events have happened in the region since the last edition of north east vision? Helen Logan reports on a selection.

A key investment, which will underpin the region's chemical industry, is on the cards. Huntsman Corporation wants to invest £50m-plus in its Greatham site, near Hartlepool, for the second time in four years.

It will create about 14 direct Huntsman jobs and provide work for 400 building workers during its construction.

Huntsman employs around 250 people at Greatham and a similar number of contractors are permanently based on the site.

The company is planning to up titanium dioxide (TiO2) production at its chloride facility by 50,000 tonnes, bringing its capacity to 150,000 tonnes a year.

The expansion is aimed at meeting increasing demand for the product and strengthening the position of the Huntsman Pigments business, formerly known as Tioxide, in the global TiO2 market.

Subject to planning and regulatory approvals, construction is expected to start later this year. The new facility will be operational in the second half of 2007 and fully completed early in 2008.

Wayne Barnacal, Huntsman Pigments's senior vice president of manufacturing and technology, said: "This is really great news and a massive vote of confidence in the workforce at Greatham and the entire chemical industry here on Teesside."

The site makes titanium dioxide pigments that are used to give brightness and opacity to paints, plastics, textiles and paper, with one of the most versatile end uses being in giving white paint its "brilliant" effect.

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Business park rejig will generate more jobs

A huge business park will have greater job-generating potential than at first planned, it has emerged.

Cheshire-based property company Gladman has signed an agreement with Northumberland County Council to develop a 45-acre site south of Cramlington, close to the junction with the main A19 and A189 roads.

It will be the biggest business park ever built in the county and will have space for up to 3,500 workers.

When infrastructure work started on the site two years ago, it was predicted to have the potential to create 1,200 jobs.

But Gladman now says a decision not to pursue any industrial development and to concentrate solely on business and office accommodation means it is now hoped 3,500 jobs could be in the pipeline.

The 400,000sqft park will be built in five phases over the next nine years, with the first phase of 70,000sqft of office buildings due to start this summer.

It will be worth around £50m on completion.

The Newcastle office of Lambert Smith Hampton and GVA Lamb & Edge will market the scheme.

Regional development agency One NorthEast and European Union regional development grants helped to fund £3.2m of infrastructure works by NCC, including a new roundabout at the entrance to the park as well as internal roads, footpaths, lighting, drainage and landscaping.

John Hamilton, economic development officer at NCC, said: "This project clearly demonstrates how effective public and private sector collaboration can be.

"A flagship business park will be developed, which meets a clear market opportunity, and will bring new quality jobs into an area where there is a shortfall in office employment."

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Forward - to a bright new age of steam

The blueprint for a multi-million pound steam recycling plant, which is set to create more than 60 jobs, is taking shape.

Newcastle environmental management company Graphite Resources has secured support for the design phase of the £20m facility at Derwenthaugh, Gateshead.

The project - called Ecoparc - is being billed as the first of its kind in the North-East and will adopt a system which uses steam to clean and separate municipal and household waste in an autoclave - a large, enclosed metal drum about the size of a fuel tanker.

Steve Howmans, associate director with the project's architect Browne Smith Baker, said: "We have now reached a major milestone by finalising the internal plant layouts.

"The construction team has worked very closely with the process engineers to co-ordinate the Waste Treatment Plant, Separation Plant and the extensive odour control system within the approved building footprint. We are now ready to embark on the detailed design."

By this summer demolition of the existing buildings was well under way and was due to be followed by a detailed site investigation to establish the ground conditions and enable suitable foundations to be designed.

Construction work is expected to start on site later this year.

The Derwenthaugh site will have the capacity to handle more than 300,000 tonnes of unsorted waste per annum.

Twenty tonnes will be fed into the autoclave for each cycle in the steam treatment process. Pressurised steam is then introduced into the drum, raising the temperature to 160C.

At the end of the cycle, sanitised material is sent to a segregation area, where magnets, air classifiers and screens are used to separate fibre, glass, plastic, steel, and aluminium.

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Bridge will link manufacturers to major sources of support

An initiative to boost the growth of manufacturing businesses has been launched in County Durham.

Manufacturing Bridge is bringing together more than eight organisations involved in supporting manufacturing companies.

It aims to reach more manufacturers in the county and to simplify and streamline the whole process for businesses that are looking for support and advice.

Carol Groombridge of Business Link in County Durham, is behind the initiative and is to chair the Manufacturing Bridge.

Members include the Department of Trade and Industry's Manufacturing Advisory Service, North-East Productivity Alliance (Nepa), Derwentside Engineering Forum, Netpark, the science park for knowledge-based industries, The Digital Factory set up by Bishop Auckland College and County Durham Development Company.

Carol Groombridge said: "About 22% of manufacturing businesses in the North-East are based in County Durham and it is vitally important that we support these companies.

"We want to see this sector thrive and help them to improve productivity and competitiveness.

"Manufacturing Bridge aims to link these companies in to the best possible support quickly and easily."

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£45.7m Perlos private equity sale 'will safeguard 150 jobs'

Jobs on Wearside have been secured, thanks to a £45m deal. Plastics company Perlos is selling its plant to a Swedish private equity group in a £45.7m joint venture.

Finland-based Perlos, whose plant at Houghton-le-Spring has been operating for 21 years, has made the decision as part of a strategy to move away from its healthcare business.

Staff at the plant, which employs about 150 people, have been told their jobs are safe despite the sale, which will also involve Perlos production facilities in Kontiolahti in Finland.

Under the deal, Swedish private equity group Ratos will take an 80% stake in Perlos's healthcare business, which makes a range of devices including asthma inhalers and syringes and clocked up sales of e52.6m (£35.9m) last year.

The Finnish company will retain a 20% stake in the new joint venture company going forward, but will concentrate on its fast-growing telecoms business.

The Finnish company's chief executive officer and president, Isto Hantila, said: "The healthcare business area has great potential for the future. However, with Perlos's core business area in telecommunications and electronics growing very rapidly, there are not enough resources in place to invest in the further development opportunities of the healthcare business.

"This transaction enables the healthcare business to implement its growth strategy, as Ratos offers a strong financial base and possibilities to invest in further growth."

Ratos chief executive officer Arne Karlsson said: "We see a very bright future and exciting potential for the new company."

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Credits start to roll

Redcar on Teesside was transformed into a wartime scene for a major movie - and it brought valuable businesses into the area in its wake - particularly for the hotel trade.

For five days, the town's seafront was a working film set as 1,000 Teesside extras helped recreate Dunkirk 1940 for the Hollywood blockbuster Atonement.

Thousands of people flocked to Redcar to watch scenes being shot.

When computer-generated imagery is added, it will give the impression of 30,000 troops on the sands.

Location manager Mally Chung said: "The architecture is fantastic, the proximity of the beach, the steelworks - it ticks all the boxes."

He said: "It was decided to double the crew from 150 to 300 because the producers saw the potential we can get from Redcar."

Filming was split between two main sites - Newcomen Terrace, including the Regent Cinema, and the South Gare Road past the Corus steelworks.

The Redcar shoot employed 1,000 extras, eight cameras with 300 crew booked into more than 200 hotel rooms across Teesside.

The set contained 45 military vehicles and a 90ft, 75-ton Thames barge, which had to be lifted onto the beach by crane.