Background

The aim of the Tees Valley Industrial Programme (TVIP) is to support the economy of the Tees Valley through a package of industrial support, enterprise, training and innovation mechanisms.

There are three key programme objectives:

1. Addressing immediate issues by providing further support to sustain apprenticeships and enterprise, including support for people to start their own business.
2. Supporting the area's process industry asset base by accelerating private investment, measures to reduce energy use and initiatives on carbon capture and storage, develop bio-based materials, support for technology transfer and new business practices.
3. Diversifying the Tees Valley economy through the development of significant business opportunities for investment and transition into new low carbon industries and advanced manufacturing. This includes investment in redevelopment of industrial land and infrastructure investment. 

The programme is being taken forward through eight workstreams, comprising a mix of strategic and tactical projects.

Each workstream is aligned with this investment criteria to ensure clear decision-making, complementarity and linkage with other priorities.

Specific investment criteria for individual workstreams have also been developed and are described below.

Investment Criteria

All workstreams should demonstrate how they address the following common investment criteria:

Strategic importance and impact for the Tees Valley economy

Investments must benefit the Tees Valley economy, by:

• addressing one or more of the three key programme objectives
• demonstrating a catalytic effect on the Tees Valley economy, individually or as part of the wider programme (including linkages to other workstreams wherever appropriate)
• enhancing the competitiveness of the Tees Valley as a business location (including impact on wider supply chains or associated industries)

Viability and sustainability

That investments respond to a demonstrable and evidence-based market need, market failure or market opportunity which requires catalytic public intervention.  We will only support projects that demonstrate that they:

• are viable and can be implemented quickly; and
• result in a medium/long term industry impact through structural change – such as the creation of new businesses or facilities, support the development needs of emerging sectors, new supply chains, new products, new or enhanced infrastructure; and/or
• address an evidenced market failure (such as low business creation)

Incentivisation

Investments must accelerate significant industry or other public investment, removing or significantly reducing barriers to investment.  For example:

• prioritisation of projects with significant initial impact
• undertaking specific pieces of scoping activity to lever larger investments or research
• undertaking infrastructure enhancements or land remediation to catalyse private investment

All investments must demonstrate additionality - that they would not proceed or would proceed less quickly without intervention or through normal business support measures.

Contribution to targets and outcomes

TVIP activity must directly and indirectly contribute to TVIP targets and outcomes, including a significant return for public investment:

• job creation or safeguarding
• business creation/attraction
• productivity/GVA
• private or other public sector leverage as a direct result of the project
• individuals assisted in skills development
• businesses supported to develop new products or services, improve processes, collaborate with other businesses or the knowledge base
• land remediation/availability for business use.

All investments are also being tested against the ‘simplification test’ demonstrating that they enhance existing business support products, where this accelerates implementation, or enables easier access to support by business.

The Tees Valley Investment Programme will prioritise investment in:

Apprenticeships 

The aim of the workstream is to sustain and expand employment related training in the Tees Valley, including through the successful training of over 150 engineering apprentices.

Investment Criteria

We use TVIP funding to support apprenticeships where it meets the following criteria:

• Additionality to NAS funding, which pays solely for the training interventions;
• Demonstration of need in terms of support for employers’;
• Leverage of employer contribution - in-kind and actual;
• Demonstration of forward plans and links to future opportunities for individuals receiving bursaries;
• Project management to demonstrate employer engagement and behavioural change.

What we are doing

The workstream is ensuring additionality to existing funding streams by generating the demand and solutions for those affected by the current fall in company demand for apprenticeships, support bursaries and mentoring and measures to increase the capacity of employers to maintain apprenticeships.  It is enhancing the existing infrastructure to support people currently engaged in (primarily Engineering) Apprenticeship Frameworks within the Tees Valley to:

• make an effective transition from level 2 to level 3;
• complete their framework to level 3;
• gain/maintain appropriate post Apprenticeship work experience; and where this is not possible enter further training/study which develops future skills and employability in disciplines relevant to their framework/sector.

Announced so far

We have announced £2.4m funding for the Engineering Apprenticeship Programme, which is specifically aimed at helping over 150 apprentices who are already on training courses and who are at risk of redundancy or where they might be unable to complete their course due to the economic downturn. We will help with allowances for individuals and support for employers to enable engineering apprentices to be supported whilst they gain the work experience they need to complete their apprenticeships, get relevant post apprenticeship work experience or further training to develop future skills and employability.

83 Corus apprentices, including those who are just starting out, and those who are about to finish their training have also been helped so far to continue or complete their apprenticeship – ensuring that the Tees Valley continues to benefit from a well-trained labour force. 

A project manager is in place - the National Skills Academy for Process Industries - to engage with current and new employers to increase awareness of the benefits of apprenticeships, build the expertise and capacity in managing apprenticeship placements and in this way will leave a legacy for the Tees Valley in terms of employer engagement with the apprenticeship agenda.  

Companies wishing to find out more about the Tees Valley Apprenticeship Programme can click here.

Enterprise & Business Support

Aim

The aim of the workstream is threefold:

- to support and encourage the establishment of new enterprises, including by redundant workers from Corus and its supply chain;
- to ensure that businesses in Tees Valley, especially those associated with the process industry and associated sectors, can survive and thrive, including within the Corus supply chain;
- to ensure that the business environment and infrastructure in Tees Valley is conducive to business start-up and growth.

Investment Criteria

TVIP support is focused on (in priority order):

• Individuals and companies affected by Corus and supply chain
• Actual and potential businesses linked to the priority industrial sectors
• Wider economic activity where this makes an identifiable contribution to Tees Valley GVA 

In addition activity will need to:

• Build on and complement existing activities;
• Improve partnership working across the area
• Respond to immediate needs and leverage funding from Single Programme, European funds, Local Authorities and British Steel Enterprise; 

What we are doing

We are supporting a range of targeted interventions, building on existing interventions such as Enterprise Coaching, Business Link, Strategic Account Management, Manufacturing Advisory Service, Innovation Advice and Guidance and Coaching for High Growth.  A specific focus of intervention will be the existing and future industries targeted by the wider Tees Valley Industrial Programme.

The workstream will complement and integrate with other workstreams (such as Engineering Diversification, Energy and Innovation), providing business support to key companies engaged in the process industry, associated sectors and new companies which will emerge to take advantage of low carbon business opportunities.

Announced so far

This workstream, which is led by Tees Valley Unlimited, has already announced £2.9m of support for individuals to set up new businesses, and for existing businesses to get help to sustain and grow.  These investments in Enterprise Coaching, Intensive Start Up Support, Business Mentoring, and Innovation Advice and Guidance, will help create 690 businesses and support the creation or safeguarding of over 1000 jobs.

We have announced £1.5m, matched with funding from Redcar and Cleveland and Darlington Councils to assist 1,800 more people with start up ideas through Enterprise Coaching and generate hundreds of new business referrals to the Business Link service over the next three years.  As a result, individuals now have access to Enterprise Coaching across the whole of the Tees Valley.

The initiative will help increase the number of new start up businesses in local areas by 300 per annum and ensure that more than 80% of these new start up businesses survive more than 12 months.  For more information, please click here.

In addition, we have agreed a £1.4m package of support available to people looking to start up a company and provide additional help to existing businesses looking to expand or diversify. 9 pre-start customers and 4 established businesses have been helped so far to develop business plans and strategies, and investigate ways to diversify and access new markets.
 
The package, which will raise the public subsidy for support for business start ups from 70% to 90%, and support for existing businesses to diversify to 50 % will be administered by the North East of England Investment Centre and will be available through Business Link.

We have also approved £262,500 to create Enterprise Arcades – low risk test trading environments in the Tees Valley - led by Hartlepool Council, to help people looking to start up to test their ideas in the marketplace.  As the Arcades are introduced, more information will be provided here.

In addition, there is a broad range of support available to set up a business, and to grow existing businesses, delivered as part of the Solutions for Business portfolio.  This support, ranging from help to start up and establish, to help to Understand Finance for Business, Manufacturing Advisory Service or Network for Innovation can be a real help in giving businesses the cutting edge.

Business Link can provide you with access to the full range of 29 Solutions for Business products - anyone with a business idea or needing help to sustain or grow should contact Business Link on 0845 600 9006 or for more information.

Engineering Diversification

Aim

Advanced engineering is strategically important as it delivers above-average productivity, salaries, and exports. It has the potential to make an important contribution to the future sustainability and growth of the North East economy.  Due to the decline in traditional industries and the recent announcements in relation to Corus it has become necessary for the engineering sector to undertake a review of its future market opportunities. The availability of resources and recent technological advances offer realistic opportunities for diversification. This could generate a successful future for the Tees Valley engineering supply chain and add significant contribution to the area’s economy.

What we are doing

Tees Valley Engineering Partnership, in collaboration with NEPIC have reviewed the business support needs and opportunities for engineering maintenance companies, and One North East was also undertaking a range of consultations with partners to assess the business support needs and opportunities for engineering design companies.  We are now working with partners to identify how this sector can be supported to develop and grow through existing support such as Solutions for Business products delivered by NEEIC and MAS.

We will ensure that engineering companies can access a broad range of Solutions for Business, and support will be closely integrated with the NEPIC objective of diversifying the process industries supply chain and Tees Valley REMTEC project to supply new growth markets, particularly offshore wind, hydrogen, CCS infrastructure, nuclear and new energy networks.

Innovation

Aim

The aim of this workstream is to build on innovation capability and assets investment to date, including technology platforms, and where applicable the work of the Automotive Innovation and Growth Team and Industrial Biotechnology Innovation and Growth Team.

Investment Criteria

All projects supported through this workstream will be focused on levering the significant public investment in new technologies in the Tees Valley, such as industrial biotechnology, printable electronics, carbon capture and resource efficiency.
All projects must also be focused on industry-led collaboration between businesses (of all sizes) and the knowledge base.

What we are doing

The programme is developing private sector driven models of collaborative innovation, working directly with key companies to develop future innovation activity, including increasing access/sharing of expertise and assets through ‘open innovation’, collaborative projects and scale up of novel bio-refining routes including sharing of bio feedstocks.  Technology platforms will need to be further developed to link into existing and future companies in the region and their supply chains in areas which may include industrial biotechnology, printable electronics, carbon capture and resource efficiency.

The programme looks to embed new industrial investments through business development and research activity - both new projects and enhancing existing capacity.

We are making good progress and have so far agreed to support 

• Feasibility work into processes that convert waste polymers into feedstocks for the petrochemical industries.  The project is working with Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) and industry partners.
   
  This £250,000 project, will develop the scope, supply chain and laboratory work which will demonstrate that plastic depolymerisation products can be used as feedstocks.  TVIP funding is being used to accelerate the development of processes and technology, and may lead to the development of a demonstration pilot plant on the Tees Valley, levering significant business investment.
  
  Alongside this, we have supported NEPIC to refresh the Innovation Strategy for Chemicals Using Companies.

Further proposals are in development.

Energy Efficiency 

Aim

The workstream aims to enable industry to implement technology and energy management solutions and provide real energy consumption reduction, reduce carbon intensity, resultant cost savings and improve resilience to energy price volatility.  This will be particularly relevant to larger businesses that will be impacted by drivers such as the EU Emission Trading Scheme Phase 3 which comes into effect in 2013.

Investment Criteria

The workstream will assess industry projects from energy intensive companies in the Tees Valley against the following criteria:

• demonstration of a significant reduction in energy consumption, carbon emissions and cost to the business;
• contribution to the growth of the local low carbon/energy efficiency supply chain;
• demonstration of new approaches and applications of energy efficiency technologies
• jobs safeguarded and private sector leverage
• underpinning value for money, additionality and sustainability assessment

What we are doing

The workstream has reviewed the evidence from existing studies such as North-South Tees study and other relevant reports produced by Renew and other partners.  Demand analysis and a list of specific industry projects has been undertaken by NEPIC and is being used to design the right mechanism for investment that meets industry needs and delivers against TVIP outcomes.

The key barrier to projects not being delivered by industry is long payback times in excess of 1-2 years.  It is anticipated that the workstream could accelerate a number of key projects that may not otherwise be delivered, through captial grants, aligned to Grant for Business Investment.

The workstream is also working with the infrastructure workstream to review the opportunities on Teesside for greater use of surplus heat from industrial processes and the uses that it can be applied to.  The energy workstream will focus on opportunities around utilising low grade waste heat for heat and power.

Announced so far

We have announced £5m for energy efficiency capital grants, targeted at energy intensive businesses in the Tees Valley particularly those in the process industry and their supply chains. These grants, aligned to the well established Grant for Business Investment, will help businesses to invest in technology and energy management systems to provide real energy consumption reductions, make cost savings and make firms less susceptible to energy price volatility.

Industrial gases manufacturer BOC, based in Tees Dock, Middlesbrough became the first firm to benefit from the scheme. BOC has received £621,600 to upgrade and modify its Air Separation Unit with the installation of a hydrogen trailer filler facility – safeguarding 40 jobs.

We have also recently agreed a £248,000 investment to support DRD Power to test novel waste heat recovery technology on process industry plants in the Tees Valley, with the aim of proving technology that can generate electricity from waste heat.  The pilot will save 600 tonnes of CO2, and generate 200 kW of electricity.

For more information on the energy efficiency capital grant and to apply please click here.

Carbon Capture & Storage 

Aim

The key aim of this workstream is to enable detailed engineering and business development of a shared Carbon Capture and Storage system for industrial emitters, including identifying financial and business models and options appraisal.

Investment Criteria

The investment criteria for this workstream will be aligned with the Department for Energy and Climate Change’s criteria for investing in Carbon Capture and Storage.

What we are doing

The principal activity will be to specify a new carbon capture and storage system which will address industrial emissions from process facilities. Enabling the reduction of CO2 emissions is vital to the continued success of several current process plants.

The provision of such a capability will also be critical to attracting future investment. Such an industrial CCS system would be unprecedented and a major technological and commercial development.

Over the next 12 months we will draw on Tees Valley and other regional businesses, including parts of these companies that are engaged on similar projects elsewhere; other international experience; and universities. We will produce a technical specification, a commercial case, and a plan to take the programme forward to implement this solution, including attracting investment.

So far, we have announced a £1.3m package of support for Carbon Capture and Storage developments, including investigations into engineering design and financial modelling, storage modelling in partnership with Durham and Newcastle Universities as well as assistance to key companies, Progressive Energy and Rio Tinto Alcan, for preparatory work for the development of CCS systems. 

Business Investment & Infrastructure

Aim

The aim of business investment and infrastructure is to secure additional immediate business investment, by supporting specific industry projects that will accelerate the decarbonisation of Tees Valley process industry and associated sectors, and diversify the Tees Valley economy into new low carbon products. 

This includes investment to support a range of new technologies and processes, such as offshore wind capacity, waste to energy, waste gasification, biotechnology/biopharma.

Investment Criteria

Projects with a single business will typically follow the well-established Grant for Business Investment process.  In addition, they must demonstrate:

• Linkage to industrial innovation opportunities – e.g. fossil, bio or waste stream feedstock and/or carbon reduction
• Impact on the supply chain, such as a requirement for a new supply chain or technology
• Linkage to infrastructure integration, way leave access or specific land activities
• Operational Efficiency improvements, leading to safeguarding of jobs 

Infrastructure projects must be also be linked to the above criteria and led by industry requirements  to secure investment.

What we are doing

TVIP provides additional funding for businesses through the well-established Grant for Business Investment product. TVIP-funded investments in businesses are focused on accelerating the decarbonisation of the Tees Valley process industry (including the chemicals industry) and associated sectors such as energy and engineering. 

Where required, we also help companies through other Solutions for Business, such as Grant for R&D, Collaborative R&D or Low Carbon Energy Demonstration.

TVIP also provides support to enable businesses to invest in these sectors by funding infrastructure investment such as strategic site acquisition or land remediation.

We have already announced funding to support business investment projects large and small, including support for companies such as Growhow, MSD Biologics, Tees Alliance Group, PyReco, PD&MS Energy, Compact GTL, Greenstar WES, TMD Friction, Ineos Bio, Katmex, Typhoon International, Engineered Services International, Solo Thermal Imaging and Leven Bridge Engineering.

Recent infrastructure announcements include a £2.4m investment in a joint venture with Impetus Waste to reclaim and redevelop the New Energy and Technology Business Park near Billingham. Air Producs will be the first company on the NETBP site.

Businesses in the Tees Valley, in particular those in process, chemicals and associated sectors that have potential investment projects are encouraged to outline their plans and to discuss how TVIP and other support mechanisms can assist with their implementation. For more information please contact Simon Goon on 0191 229 6315, or Neil Kenley at Tees Valley Unlimited on 01642 632 005.