Future assured by £11m upgrade

Ageing plant machinery was threatening to jeopardise DuPontSA's position in the market, prompting the company's action.

The company's T8 polyester PTA plant, near Redcar, east Cleveland, which makes chemicals used in the manufacture of plastic drinks bottles, will see capacity increase by 100,000 tonnes to more than 500,000 tonnes of purified terephthalic acid a year as a result of the upgrade.

The site will close for six weeks while a programme of works is carried out.

The move will secure the jobs of the 200 DuPontSA staff employed on the T8 site. The company employs a further 190 people on the Wilton site.

Paul Bartlett, DuPontSA project director, said the PTA investment would bring the company's total investment at Wilton since 2000 to nearly £60m.

He said: "The Wilton Improvement Project is a major capital investment in the T8 plant, which will help secure the long-term future of the site and the jobs of nearly 200 people currently employed on the plant.

"It also demonstrates DuPontSA's confidence in the global market and faith in Teesside as one of the world's premier industrial locations, and we are delighted to have the involvement of the Nap Partnership LLP for this key project."

Joe Keith, of the Transport and General Workers Union, which represents a number of the staff, said: "This is good news. We have been supportive of the investment that DuPontSA is bringing in and have worked closely with them on a number of issues."

DuPontSA has appointed Nap Partnership LLP, of Teesside, to provide cost management, planning and quantity surveying services for the project.

The two companies are preparing for the September shutdown. Shaun Heap, a partner at Nap, said: "From our point of view, the next few months are just as critical as the shutdown itself.

"Before the shutdown window opens, we are implementing an intense programme of preparation work essential to the success of the project."