Tees Business Tees Business Issue 16 | Page 89

Serving the Teesside Business Community | 89 / REDCAR AND CLEVELAND NEWS £167M AND 1,700+ JOBS FOR MIGHTY REDCAR – REPORT A new Special Economic Area (SEA) will be established over the 4,500-acre South Tees Development Corporation site – which incorporates the former Redcar SSI steelworks. The UK’s first SEA will give Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen and the Development Corporation board the powers to retain business rates to reinvest in developing more of the site, reducing the ask of local taxpayers. #TalkingUpTeesside R edcar and Cleveland welcomed a staggering 3.74 million in 2017, spending £167m and supporting more than 1,700 jobs throughout the borough. The latest figures (for 2017), calculated by Global Solutions on behalf of the Tees Valley Combined Authority, revealed: • 3.74 million people visited Redcar and Cleveland – an increase of 5.6% from 2016 • £167m spent on tourist related activities – a further increase of 5% on 2016 • 1,749 people directly employed in tourism – an increase of 4%. When indirect employment in the supply chain is taken into account total employment stands at 2,197, up by 4.5% on 2016 • 4.18 million ‘visitor days’ – a further increase of 5% on 2016 • 327,000 overnight visitors, representing a £50 million spend – an increase of 2.7% on 2016 • 3.4 million day visitors, representing a £118 million spend – an increase of 6% on 2016 • The Food and Drink sector accounts for 34% of all spend and 36% of all employment The percentage increases are broadly in line with the rest of the Tees Valley which saw an overall increase of 6% in visitor numbers to 19.76 million and a 5% increase in spend to £923.41m. Councillor Carl Quartermain, Redcar and Cleveland Council’s cabinet member for culture, tourism and communications, said: “A large part of our economy is dependent on tourism so we’re thrilled to see it thriving. But we aren’t resting on our laurels. There’s always more we can do.” CPI has been given £107m of government funding to help develop Tees technologies. British Steel secures major African mining contract Award-winning civil engineers celebrate second year Rapidly-expanding Tees engineering company Lynas Engineers is celebrating a second, hugely successful year in business with a record number of contract wins, a doubling of both turnover and staff and a move to new offices – the third move in the history of the company. From an impressive turnover of £180,000 in its first year of business, the Redcar-based business is on target to turnover in excess of £400,000 in its second year with more projects lined up that could well take the company beyond these financial projections. British Steel has secured a new contract to supply South African steel manufacturer Robor with its premium tophat shaft guides – hoisting systems used in underground mining operations to guide cages and skips in vertical mine shafts. British Steel’s special profiles are used in underground and surface mining operations, with its profiles being used in mine infrastructure and a vast array of mining machinery and vehicles. The steel for the profiles is made at the company’s headquarters in Scunthorpe before being rolled at its Special Profiles Mill at Skinningrove on Teesside. PORT DEAL GETS SIRIUS £9.8M TO FUEL METALS PROJECT Sirius Minerals has agreed a multi- million pound contract for the construction of the company’s port handling facility at Teesside with McLaughlin and Harvey. McLaughlin and Harvey will build storage facilities for approximately 250,000 tonnes of product, ship loading equipment, and a product screening facility, beside the Redcar Bulk Terminal. The port facilities will receive the company’s polyhalite fertilizer after it has been transported from the Woodsmith Tees Valley Combined Authority Cabinet has signed off a multi-million pound investment which will bring a revolutionary metals project to Redcar. The £4.6m investment will allow Liberty Powder Metals, owned by Liberty House, to develop and manufacture speciality alloy metal powders for uses such as 3D printing car parts. The overall cost of the scheme is £9.83m, with almost £4m coming from Liberty and the CASCADE project, a research and development initiative funded by the UK Government and led by Liberty. mine site via the 23-mile underground mineral transport system and processed into the finished product, POLY4, at the Wilton Materials Handling Facility.