George Osborne opens new £16 million UK film plant

UK Chancellor, George Osborne, has opened a new £16 million film plant at the UK headquarters of high performance polymer solutions provider, Victrex.

The manufacturing facility for high performance thermoplastic films in Hillhouse, Thornton Cleveleys, has been built in order to increase the company’s capacity to supply APTIV film, which it says has experienced “good growth” in recent years.

Victrex says it is experiencing rising demand for the extremely thin and durable film across key industries such as aerospace, automotive and electronics and says it made the strategic investment in the new facility, including a second film production line, to meet future growth.

Tim Cooper, Managing Director of Victrex Polymer Solutions, who hosted the Chancellor´s visit, said: “Victrex is a growing UK export champion and we were delighted to welcome the Chancellor to unveil our new £16 million polymer film plant, which has helped create high quality UK jobs. Whilst 97 percent of our sales are from outside the UK, we have a strong track record of investing and creating jobs here and, being at the forefront of UK science and innovation, we have stressed the importance of promoting science and engineering skills in the future.”

Victrex is also investing £90 million in its third PEEK manufacturing plant at its Hillhouse facility. The plant is due to start commissioning in early 2015 and has helped create over 20 jobs.

During the visit by George Osborne discussions also centred around the Chancellor’s plans to increase infrastructure investment in the North of England, as well as science and engineering skills.