Chemical plant starts production after takeover

Streamlined production at a chemical plant has restarted, months after its former owners made hundreds of employees redundant.

The titanium dioxide (TiO2) pigment production facility at Greatham, in Hartlepool, has reopened as newly created company, Tioxide Materials Limited.

LB Group, who own the subsidiary, bought the plant from Venator Materials UK after that company went into administration last year with 270 job losses across Venator's Greatham, Wynyard and Birtley sites.

Tioxide said operations were being brought back in phases, with plans to increase production to the site's full capacity by early 2027. Titanium dioxide is a material used in coatings, plastics and inks applications.

Tioxide claims the Greatham manufacturing facility, which began production in 1971, can "strengthen your brands and products to perform at the highest level".

Managing director Karen Askwith said: "Drawing on more than 50 years of manufacturing heritage, the site at Greatham has a proud history of producing high-quality TiO2 pigments.

"This is an important step forward for our new business – but also for the local economy on Teesside, for the UK chemical sector and the wider TiO2 industry."

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