Region

100 years ago it was the rich natural resources, water, iron ore, salt, anhydrite, potash that led to the development of a chemical industry on Teesside - North East England. As chemical processing technology developed, Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) established some of its largest operations around the river Tees and Tees Port. With its concentration of process industry expertise, the Tees Valley also became the natural location for the development of the petrochemical industry, taking advantage of the oil and gas field off the North East coast.

The chemical industry flourished and scientific and engineering skills developed to world leading standards, to such an extent that the growth of new chemistry - using industries could be supported. Even today, Europe’s largest research centre outside of military use is based at Wilton and focuses on process industry innovations.

Diversifying from ICI’s commodity chemical business came speciality chemical products, utilising the products from the region’s commodity and petrochemicals producers. The diversification did not stop there - the North East’s highly developed scientific and engineering skills attracted Pharmaceutical companies to the region and along with them came the fine chemical companies who are suppliers to the pharmaceutical industry.

More recently, the acknowledged world-class technical capability of the region has enabled the establishment of Biotechnology. The North East is becoming the place of choice for Bio-processing. Today the regional picture is of the North East’s Petrochemical and Base Chemical manufacturers mostly located on Teesside, where their large volumes of raw material and product can rely on Teesside’s significant pipelines, port, storage and other infrastructure to move their materials around.

Speciality, Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies usually manufacture lower volume higher value products and do not need such major infrastructure. Hence these industries have also spread across the North East into Durham, Tyne & Wear and Northumberland. Today, over two hundred Chemical, Pharmaceutical, Speciality and Biotechnology companies have bases in the North East of England. A similar number of engineering, analytical, logistics and other support companies are also operating here.

It is also a formidable blend of both old and new skills - traditional engineering and chemical production combined with hi-tech research and development of new industries. We are setting the pace in cutting edge technology and leading the field in areas such as renewable energy. And there is more to come.

North East England has shown strength and an ability to survive, weathering the storm with great success. Other companies have moved in, pushing the industry forward and are investing millions in development.