A 110-tonne boiler has arrived at Venator’s Greatham site in County Durham as part of a £15 million investment programme.

This is the first of four to be manufactured by Scotland-based Cochran Ltd, and all of the components for the new boilers have been made in the UK.

Venator (www.venatorcorp.com), which has its global headquarters at Wynyard on Teesside, is an international chemical company dedicated to the development and manufacture of titanium dioxide pigments and ‘performance’ products; these are used in thousands of products, including paints, plastics, inks, cosmetics and even smartphones.

Employing more than 4,300 people at 24 facilities world-wide, Venator employs 400 people at Greatham and 800 in the North East, serving customers in more than 110 countries.

Greatham site director Marek Pawlak said: “We are delighted to see our first new ‘state of the art’ high-efficiency boiler arrive.

“This project signifies major investment in Greatham and will help us deliver manufacturing resilience.

"It is the latest in a series of significant investments made at the site over recent years to improve its competitiveness within the manufacturing landscape.

"As a global company with its headquarters on Teesside and with other sites in the North East, we’re proud that all the components for these boilers have been made in the UK.”