2. Greater Grimsby is home to a large number of companies in the process industries
from speciality chemicals to pharmaceuticals.
Greater Grimsby offers:
50 years experience of process industries
the UK’s largest port capable of handling major projects
a supportive environment and specialist training facilities
proven expertise in engineering and construction
leadership in new fuels and green processes
a ready and able workforce
the lowest operating costs in the UK
So, if you’re looking for the optimum location for:
petrochemical and biofuels
pharmaceutical and biotechnology
composite materials
speciality engineering
Greater Grimsby is the natural choice.
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3. Greater Grimsby
Get it Straight
From the Heart
Greater Grimsby is a straight-talking, no-nonsense place.
We speak our minds and tell it how it is.
When it comes to promoting our area, we give you the facts to make
your own mind up. Big UK-leading facts like, we’ve got:
- the busiest port complex
- the largest concentration of food companies
- the most renewable energy opportunities
- the greenest power station
- the biggest strategic employment sites
- the lowest operating costs
Our towns of Grimsby, Immingham and Cleethorpes, and surrounding
Lincolnshire villages offer very different things. But taken as a package,
they combine to offer cost-effective, well-connected business locations
within a few miles of stunning countryside and great schools.
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4. From the Heart of
the UK to Europe
and the World
Greater Grimsby puts you at the heart of the UK and Europe.
We are centrally located on the east coast of the UK in the county of
Lincolnshire. Our area includes:
- Grimsby – the world-famous port and Europe’s Food Town
- Cleethorpes – the popular seaside holiday resort
- Immingham – a focal point of heavy industry and logistics
- Wolds villages – an area of outstanding natural beauty
Thanks to our maritime and fishing heritage, we are outward looking and
have traditionally had strong international links, especially with
Scandinavia, something that continues today with many commercial
partnerships. Distances from Greater Grimsby
Miles Km
Being 200 miles from London, Edinburgh and Rotterdam, means that we
Sheffield 60 96
are truly central to the UK and Europe.
Leeds 70 112
Our area is an integral part of the Humber region and enjoys close links Manchester 100 160
with the nearby cities of Hull and Lincoln.
Liverpool 130 209
Birmingham 130 209
London 160 257
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5. Greater Grimsby
Major Centre for
Process Industries
We understand the challenges and opportunities in the process
industries.
Greater Grimsby is at the centre of a major concentration of process
industries, which in the wider Humber region employs around 15,000
people in 120 companies that collectively turnover more than £6 billion
each year.
The process industries in and around Greater Grimsby are incredibly
50 years
diverse and include:
- petrochemicals
- commodity chemicals
- speciality chemicals
- composite materials
- pigments and paints
- pharmaceuticals of process industries in the area
- supporting services
With more than 50 years of experience in nurturing this cluster of
industries, local partners are committed to growth and expansion into new
and exciting areas that will shape the way we live in the future.
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6. UK’s Biggest Port
Uncongested Roads
Rail and Air Links
From Greater Grimsby you can reach more people in less time.
The Port of Grimsby and Immingham is the UK’s largest port by tonnage.
Its prime deep-water location on the Humber Estuary, gives companies
direct access to mainland Europe and beyond.
Uncongested roads and motorways connect to all parts of the UK placing
40 million consumers within a 4-hour drive.
This area is the busiest in the UK for rail freight with a choice of specialist
terminals serving destinations across the country.
40m
Humberside Airport, conveniently located just a few miles from our main
towns, is a key national and international gateway connecting over half a
million passengers to 30 destinations every year, with daily flights to
Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, the world’s third largest international
airport.
consumers in a 4-hour drive
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7. Global Brands
Choose to Invest
in Greater Grimsby
You will be close to some of the world’s biggest names.
The process industries cluster in Greater Grimsby continues to attract
global players from the chemical, pharmaceutical and allied industries.
- Novartis employs more than 500 people at its Grimsby site – a quarter of
whom are graduates. The Swiss-headquartered giant has invested more
than £430 million in its Grimsby manufacturing facility in the last decade.
- Ciba, part of BASF, the world’s biggest chemical group, operates a 50-
care facility in Grimsby which manufacturers products from paints to
textiles.
- Cristal Global, the Saudi-owned chemicals company, produces titanium
dioxide at its Immingham site.
- China National Bluestar Corporation, one of China's fastest growing
chemical groups, acquired the former Akzo Nobel acrylic operation.
120
companies in process industries
- ConocoPhillips, the third-largest integrated energy company in the United
States, operates the Humber Refinery in North Lincolnshire.
around the Humber
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8. Port, Farms and
Food Industry
Drive BioEnergy
We have some of Europe’s most important green energy investments.
Greater Grimsby is a growing focal point for the bioenergy market.
Proximity to the UK’s largest port complex, Europe’s food town and the
agricultural hinterland of Lincolnshire (known as “the breadbasket of
England”), makes the area extremely attractive for green energy. “The region is ideally situated to
Greenergy owns and operates two biodiesel plants at the port of sell our output into the two world
Immingham, as does Total and Bioethanol. The plants are capable of using
a variety of feedstocks including rapeseed, soy, palm and used cooking scale refineries located here. It also
oils. Vireol is building a bioethanol plant in Grimsby, and Abengoa
Bioenergy is building one at Immingham using wheat as feedstock, this combines the benefits of a deep
due to open in 2010.
sea port, allowing us to move
Helius and RWE Innogy are working together on a major €260 million
biomass facility in the area. Siemens and Drax have also chosen the south product in and out, access to a
bank of the Humber for biomass facilities. Encycle's renewable electricity
power station, to be located near Immingham, will divert up to 210,000 local market and allows us to
tonnes of food waste and non-recyclable packaging away from landfill each
year. source feedstock from the farms
that surround the port.”
Andrew Owens, Chief Executive, Greenergy
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9. Supportive Network
That Understands
Your Needs
Practical support and cross-industry networking opportunities.
Since its establishment in 1999, Humber Chemical Focus has grown into
one of the UK’s leading regional chemical initiatives with more than 100
members. The HCF works with companies and organisations within the
region to create and support the industry using the four key pillars;
Networking, Innovation, Skills & Training and The Humber Region. HCF
hosts a range of publicly funded contracts spanning industry surveys, skills
“I feel very confident that our
programmes, projects, promotions and network groups including:
area will continue to grow and
- Humber REACh Network – for managers with responsibility for Health,
Safety, Environment and Compliance matters.
play its full part as one of
- Humber ChemSkills Network - comprising the training managers and HR
Europe’s most competitive
managers of the chemical and petro-chemical industries in our region.
regions to move, produce and
- Humber Environmental Managers Network - attended by Health Safety
Managers, Environmental Engineers and local conservationists.
distribute chemicals.”
- Humber Fire & Security Network - for Fire Protection and Security Dr Glyn Hughes, Humber Chemical Focus
Managers and colleagues from the Police and Fire services.
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10. Unique Training
Centre for the
Process Industry
Centre for the Assessment of Technical Competence – Humber
(CATCH).
Demonstrating the area’s commitment to the long-term growth and
expansion of the process industries, a unique £8 million training facility has
been established. It is able to simulate a chemical plant without the risks of
handling dangerous substances at high temperatures and pressures.
£8m
CATCH exists to make a real contribution to the competitiveness of the
chemical and allied businesses in the area by encouraging people to
choose careers in the industry and by facilitating the provision of effective,
industry-led training and competence assessment within an authentic plant
environment.
CATCH’s unique selling point is that it is a facilitator of training, pulling
together the relevant training providers, like the Grimsby Institute, to deliver
training centre investment
bespoke training and competency requirements. Companies can utilise
CATCH with their own training provider or ask CATCH to find a suitable
training provider to deliver their specific training requirements.
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11. Supply Chain
Provides Vital
Industry Support
We have an integrated supply-chain with specialist service
companies.
All around Greater Grimsby, there are hundreds of specialist construction,
engineering, logistics and many other service companies that provide a
vital supply-chain to the major manufacturers in the process industries.
- Jacobs Engineering Group of the United States recently acquired L.E.S.
Engineering, to create a 1,000-person maintenance, construction and
service contractor headquartered in Grimsby, specializing in mechanical,
instrumentation and electrical installations for the process and industries.
“This latest investment at our
- BIS OHARE is a leading engineering services supplier to the process
industry with a base in Immingham. Customers include Ineos, Total UK, Grimsby base is further evidence of
ConocoPhillips, Albion Chemicals Distribution, EoN and Syngenta.
our commitment to the town and
- Jex Engineering is one of the UK's leading providers of high quality
process engineering installations for the chemical and pharmaceutical the Humber region.”
industries, employing 280 people of which 190 are based at Grimsby.
Paul Wilson, Managing Director, Jex Engineering
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12. Novartis Award
Proves Value of a
Grimsby Workforce
Award-winning workers make the difference.
Novartis Grimsby provides important manufacturing facilities for the firm’s
ChemOps division with four Process Units for Diovan, Aliskiren, Multi-
purpose Production and High Volume Production. Key products include
treatments for hypertension, arthritis, diabetes and epilepsy. Along with
plants in Switzerland, Ireland, Brazil and China, ChemOps is responsible
for the worldwide supply of pharmaceutical drug substances for Novartis
Pharma.
“Our Grimsby workforce is energised
In 2009, the Grimsby workforce were singled out by the Swiss company
and involved, and understands the
when they beat off competition from 23 other Novartis manufacturing sites
worldwide, to win an award that recognised their work. One aspect that
changes required by the business to
was noted in the reasons for the win was the development of operational
excellence scorecards, which has added shift competition to the workplace.
evolve, with increased levels of
This led to improved quality standards of a staggering 400 per cent.
engagement and satisfaction.”
Tom van Laar, Head of Global Technical Operations, Novartis
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13. World-class Oil
Refineries Fuel
New Opportunities
Our world-class refining facility is a vital asset.
The Humber Refinery is one of the most complex refineries in the
ConocoPhillips portfolio and one of the most sophisticated in Europe. It is a
fully integrated plant that produces light products and fuel oil. It is the only
coking refinery in the UK, the world’s largest producer of specialty graphite
cokes and the largest anode coke producer in Europe.
Located in North Lincolnshire, the refinery has been one of ConocoPhillips’
“It is a real powerhouse of a refinery.
key assets in the UK since the late 1960s. It has gained an international
reputation while producing products for the benefit of customers at home
We have got some really good
and abroad. The east coast location allows cost-effective North Sea crude
oil imports and product exports to European and world markets. It
people here. I am looking forward to
produces around 14 million litres of petrol every day – that’s enough to
drive to the moon and back, twice.
working towards our vision of
A purpose-built warehouse at Immingham docks stores the petroleum coke
becoming the safest, most profitable
before it is shipped out. The warehouse has an internal area equal to
Wembley Stadium.
European energy complex.”
ConocoPhillips has invested a further £700 million at its Humber Refinery Mike Wirkowski , General Manager, Humber Refinery
to keep it at the forefront of the industry.
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14. One of the World’s
Greenest Power
Stations
Combined Heat and Power plant shows the way to a low carbon
future.
ConocoPhillips operates the Immingham Combined Heat and Power plant,
one of the greenest power stations in the world generating 730 megawatts
of electricity. The development of ICHP has made a significant contribution
to reducing CO2 emissions in the United Kingdom and is capable of
savings of up to 3 million tonnes per year when compared to power
produced from conventional coal fired power production, and separate
“The expanded CHP capacity
production of heat. The plant is fuelled by natural gas with liquid fuel as
backup. It produces electricity and creates steam, which is used by the
demonstrates our commitment
nearby Humber and Lindsey refineries.
to lower carbon technologies.
The expanded plant, together with ConocoPhillips' Humber refinery, is
strategically placed to realize the vision of an ultra-low-carbon integrated
This major long-term investment
energy hub able to supply heat and power to a wide range of local
industrial customers. If current studies demonstrate economic feasibility,
by ConocoPhillips is timely in
the enlarged Immingham CHP could be modified to utilize gasification
technology to operate as a 'clean coal' facility with carbon dioxide stored or
view of the UK government's
used for enhanced oil recovery.
ongoing support for combined
heat and power. ”
Bob Hassler, ConocoPhillips
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15. New Materials and
Carbon Fibres for
Green Economy
We have specialist manufacturers creating the materials of the future.
The growth in advanced materials and composites is a major opportunity
for the process industries in the Grimsby area. This has particular
significance given our emerging role as a key hub location for renewable
energy, in particular offshore wind energy.
One example of this is Bluestar Fibres, based in Grimsby. They make
carbon-fibre precursor, which is used in carbon fibre products such as
tennis racquets, skis, golf clubs, mobile phones, aircraft brakes, automotive
components, fire retardant clothing and the brakes of Formula One cars. Its
biggest growth potential, however, lies in its application in the fast-growing
wind-turbines sector. Composite materials and carbon fibre precursor
made in Grimsby is used in the construction of high-performance rotor
blades around the world, for customers including SGL Carbon, the German
group that supplies composite materials to the wind energy sector.
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16. Europe’s Food Town
Creates New Biotech
Opportunities
Cross-sector convergence creates new market opportunities.
Grimsby is known as “Europe’s Food Town” because of the high
concentration of food processing companies in the area and its position as
the seafood capital of the UK. This presents several areas of opportunity
for companies involved in biotechnology, including:
- potential use of fish waste in biotech research
- extraction of Omega-3 oils from fish
- development of functional foods and nutraceuticals
- use of microorganisms in the food-processing industry
- food safety and biotech-based diagnostic testing
The range of skills in the pharmaceutical and drug-development sector that
have been developed thanks to major manufacturers like Novartis, offer a
significant overlapping opportunity with the area’s food industry. New
research and development labs in the Greater Grimsby area enable
cutting-edge innovation and testing around seafood.
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17. Workers With
Relevant Skills
and Right Mindset
You’ll find all the skills necessary for process industry projects
here.
The local area has a workforce of 90,000 within a 15-minute catchment,
and 350,000 workers within a 45-minute drive. Recent economic
conditions mean that there is a ready-made labour-force eager and
willing to work on new projects, many with direct experience in the
process industries.
In recognition of the specific skills required by the process industries,
local schools and colleges are working in partnership to ensure that the
350,000
area’s companies are able to recruit the talent required in the future.
CATCH plays a key part in this provision of training and is supported by
the Grimsby Institute of Further & Higher Education. The Institute
delivers engineering training to apprentices at CATCH and relocated its
successful pipefitting and plating delivery team to bring expertise in
mechanical and electrical engineering.
ChemSkills represents a major network for skills in the industry and
workers within 45-minute drive
forms part of Cogent, the Sector Skills Council’s national network.
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18. Cost-Effective
Offices, Units and
Development Sites
We have the right premises, in the right places, at the right prices.
Greater Grimsby has a wide choice of modern offices, both in-town and on
high quality business parks, industrial units and development land adjacent
to major roads, a deep-water estuary and major docks.
The area’s flagship business park, Europarc, has been designed to attract
manufacturing, distribution and office based businesses with high quality,
cost-effective, purpose-built accommodation, within an attractive lakeside
setting.
Property costs and land values across the area are up to 25% lower than in
competitor locations.
The inward investment team at North East Lincolnshire Council provides a
free service to help find the right property for your business.
25%
lower property costs
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19. Lowest Operating
Costs Equals
Profitable Location
Property and labour costs are among the lowest in the UK.
Greater Grimsby is a cost-effective business location. Compared with
similar locations, this area has the: Average Wage Industrial Rent Medium Office
£/annum) £/m2/annum £/m2/annum
- Lowest average wage costs
Grimsby 20,577 40 85
- Lowest industrial rents
- Lowest office costs Hull 22,122 45 100
In difficult times, the ability to keep your cost-base to a minimum helps to Lincoln 20,873 45 120
keep businesses afloat and protects jobs.
Nottingham 23,499 55 160
Living costs are low here too with housing among the cheapest in the
country, enabling a choice of urban and country lifestyle. Doncaster 21,420 50 155
Sheffield 23,549 55 165
Teesside 20,689 42 170
Newcastle 21,837 47 210
Manchester 25,494 55 310
Sources: Property Market Report, VOA, July 2008
ONS - 2008 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings
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20. Outstanding Beauty
Sun, Sea, Sand
and Happy People
Lifestyles to suit all tastes.
Everywhere claims to have a great quality of life, but few places can
compete with our rich diversity of historic towns, quaint villages, wildlife
sanctuaries, rolling hills and sandy beaches.
Our surrounding countryside is famous for its beauty, with the Lincolnshire
Wolds being designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty that is
protected due to its "precious landscape" and "distinctive character".
English country pubs, historic churches and quaint villages are just a few
miles from the towns of Grimsby, Cleethorpes and Immingham.
“The resort is taking care of people
The seaside town of Cleethorpes has been voted as one of the happiest
places to live in the UK. A 2008 survey ranked the town ninth out of 273 UK
who are making the most of the
districts, which is not surprising given the classic mix of sun, sea, and
sand.
weather and the places to visit.
Local shopping and nightlife attract millions of visitors from outside the area
We are making Cleethorpes a
each year and as befits Europe's Food Town, you can enjoy great food
from the world's best fish and chips to award-winning fine dining.
happy place to visit and live in.”
Robert Chalmers, Cleethorpes Resort Manager
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21. Education For All
Choice and Quality
New Investment
Success and excellence from primary to higher education.
Our local schools offer a wide choice for children of all abilities. In the most
recent league tables, three-quarters of local primary schools outperformed
the national average, while half of our schools and colleges outperformed “The reputation the Grimsby
the UK average at A’level.
Institute enjoys with employers,
There are a number of excellent grammar schools in Lincolnshire within
easy reach, that regularly achieve some of the best results in the country. students and Associate
For further and higher education, the Grimsby Institute offers a wide range Universities has been founded on
of courses and has particular strengths in vocational training with several
centres of excellence in fields ranging from automotive technology to digital the quality of our courses and the
media. The Institute is planning a £150 million programme of
development, enhancing links with local schools and creating modern excellent facilities.”
facilities.
Ray Ellis
Grimsby Institute
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22. Practical Support
And Advice For
Your Next Project
How we can help.
Whether you're based in the UK or overseas, North East Lincolnshire
Council has a team of specialists waiting to help you. Our services are
provided free of charge on a completely confidential basis and include:
- helping you plan your expansion or relocation project
- providing research to help you make your decision
- advising on available sites and premises and development options
“The biggest single thing that
- organising personal tours of the area
- providing introductions and liaison with key local advisors
influenced the decision was the
- information about grants and financial assistance that may be available
availability of a skilled labour
For more information on how you can be a part of the Greater Grimsby
success story, contact:
force. We are very impressed and
Grimsby has a great reputation in
Kate Walker
North East Lincolnshire Council
that area. This is an ideal location
01472 324967
kate@greatergrimsby.net
for us and for our future growth.”
www.greatergrimsby.net
Rob Burnett, Daniels Group
(New Covent Garden Soup)
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