Durham packaging company invest £300,000 in expansion

Growing demand at a Durham-based packaging company has led to a £300,000 investment in a new warehouse and production line.

Corespec Ltd has also used the investment to set up an additional high-tech production line and say that the expansion will create new jobs at the company.

The firm specializes in the manufacture of heavy duty tubes of ‘cores’ for UK customers in the paper, flooring, textile, plastic film, food and building materials sectors.

The expansion came about with the help of a second round of support from UK Steel Enterprise which made a second investment of £50,000.

UK Steel Enterprise, the Tata Steel business-support subsidiary, has backed Corespec since its very early days.

Nick Johnson of UK Steel Enterprise, said: “We have had every confidence in Corespec and its management team since its earliest days and are pleased that our investments have helped the company to grow.

“They are one of the North East’s success stories and their commitment to investment, quality, flexibility and customer service has resulted in an impressive list of loyal customers.”

Corespec was established in 1998 by Brian Hodge and Gordon Gregory on the Greencroft Industrial Park in Stanley.

The new warehouse, build on land adjacent to the Derwentside factory, has brought everything together onto one site, freeing up space for the new production line.

Brian Hodge said: “We are already looking ahead to our next expansion.as we expect to grow substantially over the next two to three years.

“We will need more space for both production and warehousing and we are lucky that this site, which seemed huge when we took it on, now gives us the potential to double our existing size if we need to.

“We have a long-standing, excellent relationship with UK Steel Enterprise and they have been with us all the way with advice and finance when we needed it. We have also had great support from HSBC.

“We expect to create more jobs in the near future and are always on the lookout for people with tube-winding skills who want to join an expanding company.

“Our policy of promoting from within and also running our own training programme means that we have built up a loyal and highly reliable team that plays an important part in our success.

“We took the decision six years ago to continue investing through the recession and we’re very pleased with the way the business is going.”.

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