Tioxide Materials is targeting a workforce of 308 employees in 2027 as its Greatham titanium dioxide plant near Hartlepool increases production and continues recruiting.
The company expects its total workforce to reach 267 in the coming weeks, up from more than 200 when it announced its second recruitment phase on 6 August. It is also aiming to employ more than 200 people at Greatham itself, alongside staff at its new Stockton-on-Tees headquarters and research and development centre at Wynyard.
Production resumed at Greatham on 18 August, and Tioxide says output and the range of pigment grades being manufactured have increased faster than originally anticipated. The plant's first manufacturing line is operating, with preparations under way to restart the second in early 2027.
Tioxide managing director Karen Askwith says: “We are ahead of where we wanted to be in terms of production volumes and grades produced.”
The company is recruiting across engineering, production, sales, information technology and customer services. Tioxide says some former Venator employees have also returned to the business.
Askwith, who was previously Venator's managing director, says: “It’s been particularly heartening to welcome back so many former colleagues.”
The Greatham plant was placed into an idle state in October 2025 before its former owner, Venator Materials UK, entered administration on 22 October. A total of 273 employees were made redundant across Venator's sites at Greatham, Wynyard and Birtley.
China-based LB Group agreed to acquire the Greatham titanium dioxide assets in October 2025. The transaction completed on 27 April 2026 following clearance from the Competition and Markets Authority on 23 April.
The assets were acquired by LB Titanium UK Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of LB Group, which was renamed Tioxide Materials Ltd. The administrators say the sale secured ongoing employment for 132 local employees. That figure measures the jobs transferred at completion and is not a like-for-like comparison with Tioxide's current or target headcount.
Tioxide has not disclosed how many former Venator employees have since returned or how much LB Group has invested in restarting the plant.
The company's recovery comes as the Trade Remedies Authority (TRA) considers new duties on Chinese titanium dioxide imports.
On 7 October, the TRA proposed a five-year anti-dumping duty of 48.29 per cent for cooperating exporters, subject to a minimum of £0.665 per kilogram, and 63.66 per cent for other exporters, subject to a minimum of £0.876 per kilogram.
LB Group is registered in the investigation as an exporter and Billions Europe Ltd as an importer. Interested parties have until 26 October to comment before the TRA makes its final recommendation to the Secretary of State.
Tioxide says engineering and commissioning work on Greatham's second manufacturing line is progressing to schedule. The company expects it to restart in early 2027, restoring the plant's full annual production capacity of 150,000 tonnes of titanium dioxide pigment.
