Teesside Freeport is the UK’s biggest Freeport and we think the best, further enhancing Teesside’s location offer to investing industrial businesses. This handy guide, for companies and our partners, provides all the key facts, including: How UK Freeports add value for businesses An overview of Teesside Freeport and its major assets The Tax and Customs benefits potentially available to businesses located within Teesside Freeport The specific benefits of Wilton International as an industrial site with Freeport tax zone status Download the Teesside Freeport Key Facts Slide Deck .

What is a freeport? A freeport is a region of the country where special economic rules apply. It’s based around a seaport, or airport, but can extend over a large neighbouring area – up to 45km. It’s a form of SEZ (special economic zone) that allows businesses to manufacture, import and export within the UK border, but without the usual tax and customs restrictions. With the current freeport initiative, the Government aims to provide an economic boost as part of the nation’s post-COVID recovery, drive regeneration and “level up” the UK’s ports and historic industrial regions.

Anglo American bring material from their mining facility through a custom-built tunnel under the North York Moors to their processing facility at Wilton International. Anglo American chose Wilton International because it met their requirement for the lowest environmental impact possible. ';" class="embed-container" style="background-image: url('https://res.cloudinary.com/wilton/image/upload/v1638371381/jenwilliamsangloamerican.jpg');background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:cover;"

Teesside Freeport has two sets of benefits. The custom zone benefits which offer simplified customs procedures for the import and export of material and the simplification of things like VAT, tax and duty. At Wilton International we actually have a tax site within the Freeport Zone which means there are capital allowance benefits and business rate holidays as well as incentives around national insurance payments for employers. Wilton has substantial infrastructure already in place in terms of power generation and other utilities and the plug-and-play nature of Wilton makes it a great choice for inward investment because companies can get new plant up and running so much quicker and don’t have to invest in all of that ancillary plant.

Power – a headache for investing businesses For high energy use businesses, finding a site with a suitable grid connection can be difficult, time consuming and expensive, according to commercial property specialists Lambert Smith Hampton. “Industrial companies are struggling to find sites with large power supplies,” a company representative says. “It can take over a year for a supply to be installed and the capital outlay is significant”. It’s no surprise, therefore, that Peak Resources, to name just one recent investor, chose the site over international competitors for their multi-million pound investment in a minerals refining facility.

Perhaps the first thing a visitor to Wilton International notices is the sheer scale of the site. At 2,000 acres (809 hectares) it’s vast, and home to an array of large-scale industrial operations including green energy generation, chemicals manufacturing, biofuels production and plastics recycling. Wilton International began as an integrated manufacturing site owned and operated by the chemicals giant ICI. Following that company’s business divestment programme in the 1990s and 2000s, the site’s energy and manufacturing assets were acquired by various international corporations.

Teesside’s Winning Freeport Bid Covering more than 4,500 acres of land, the equivalent of 2,250 football pitches, Teesside’s will be the largest of the UK’s 8 new Freeport zones. And the successful bid provides an excellent example of what can be achieved when Teesside’s industrial cluster, with public and private sector partners including local authorities and ports, work together. The Freeport zone includes ten distinct areas on or close to the River Tees, with forecasts estimating the attraction of more than 18,000 jobs to the area over five years, and a £3.

Wilton International, a 2,000-acre industrial site in Teesside, UK, is home to a well-established cluster of energy-intensive businesses, each benefiting from a unique combination of infrastructure, utilities and services. And with 562 acres of development land currently available, the site is drawing significant interest from prospective new occupants with similar requirements. “At present, we have development plots available in sizes from 2.5 up to 66 acres”, says Matthew Scrimshaw, Commercial Director at Sembcorp Energy UK, the company that manages the site and owns much of the land.

Vulnerable supply chains That’s because the pandemic subjected the UK’s critical supply chains to stress tests that, in many cases, revealed weaknesses. Demand for medical and personal protective equipment (PPE) exceeded supply, exposing the country’s reliance on imports. In the words of the GTMA manufacturers’ trade body: “Amongst the many things we have learnt during the COVID-19 pandemic there is a wider recognition that cheapest purchase price has generated a vulnerability of supply chains with geographic disruption and reduced capacity to uplift production in the UK.

Streamlining the planning and permissions process Arranging the necessary permissions for a new industrial project can be time-consuming – a factor that RCBC does everything possible to minimise. When it comes to planning, the council has two major strings to its bow. One is the support it offers through the planning process itself, as Adrian Miller, who heads up planning at the council, explains. “We provide a free planning pre-application service.

Industry is transforming. The UK’s Industrial Strategy1 highlights major growth opportunities in areas including sustainable transport, carbon reduction, big data, and healthcare solutions for an ageing population. And as new technologies are commercialised, high-growth businesses are seeking suitable locations and sites for their manufacturing operations. High-technology industrial companies have diverse location requirements, but a number of themes recur. Typical needs include development-ready sites with large power supplies, excellent transport and data connectivity, and access to a highly skilled labour force.

Flexible property solutions Wilton International can accommodate diverse property needs including land, business compounds, offices, warehousing and workshops. 'Ready-to-go' development land All plots are fully serviceable with ‘plug & play' energy, utilities and industrial infrastructure - reducing investment project costs and lead times. A large, diverse land portfolio With a land portfolio of 562 acres and individual plot sizes from 2.5 acres up to 66 acres, the site can accommodate a wide range of industrial uses.

Scott Taylor of Sembcorp Energy UK and Mark Kenrick of NEPIC (North East of England Process Industry Cluster) explain Wilton International’s powerful site offer to businesses with large power requirements. ‘Plug and play, ready to go…’ ';" class="embed-container" style="background-image: url('https://res.cloudinary.com/wilton/image/upload/v1582717051/respowerutils.jpg');background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:cover;"

With four on-site power plants as well as national grid backup and over 500 acres of development-ready land, investing companies can build their facility and then just plug and play. Watch this short animated video for an overview of Wilton International’s unique site offer to energy intensive businesses. Energy. Space. Plug & Play. ';" class="embed-container" style="background-image: url('https://res.cloudinary.com/wilton/image/upload/v1580054957/wILTON-VID-THUMB.png');background-repeat:no-repeat;background-size:cover;"