Cheers to 35 jobs in town

More than 30 new jobs are set to be created after a Dutch-based firm announced it is set to open a factory in Seaham.

Lightweight Containers, a manufacturer of lightweight kegs for the drinks industry, has chosen to locate its first UK manufacturing plant in the town.

The company has taken a 10-year lease on a 62,000 sq ft unit at Foxcover Industrial Estate and expects to create about 35 jobs within two years.

The company is fitting out the unit with the aim of starting production in July.

The company already has production plants in Holland, Germany and the United States and has been searching for a site in the UK to satisfy a growing demand for its products, due in part to an upsurge in the craftbrewing sector.

It has opted for Seaham after a lengthy collaboration process involving Metnor Group, the owner of the site, HTA who acted as agents for Metnor and the inward investment team at Business Durham, the economic development organisation for County Durham, working on behalf of Durham County Council. Ruud Bais, chief technical officer at Lightweight Containers, said: “As a business, we aim to support the local community and to this end we have engaged predominantly local North East based contractors to carry out the initial fit out of the unit.”

Peter Rippingale, inward investment manager at Business Durham: “When we heard about Lightweight Containers’ interest in the area we were able to demonstrate to them the strong manufacturing heritage of the North East and the availability of a skilled pool of labour which were essential to their needs.”