DuPont will close its sites at Hemel Hempstead and Dagenham

DuPont will close its sites at Hemel Hempstead and Dagenham

DuPont is to consolidate its UK operations under the global restructuring plans outlined by the group this week. The polymer firm will close its sites at Hemel Hempstead and Dagenham and transfer operations to Stevenage.

Engineering Polymers staff and the laboratory facility at Hemel Hempstead will transfer to the newer Stevenage site, which has space available. Hemel Hempstead also houses staff from DuPont’s performance coatings, fluoropolymers and packaging and industrial polymers businesses while Dagenham largely houses refinish business staff.

Employees at the Hemel Hempstead building will be given the opportunity to transfer to the Stevenage site, but some may choose the voluntary severance package on offer. In total 150 employees in the UK and 900 across continental Europe will lose their jobs under the streamlining programme which aims to cut 3,500 personnel and 500 contractors from the group’s global workforce. However, the engineering polymers division has emerged virtually unscathed from the exercise.

Craig Oliver, north European marketing manager for engineering polymers, said the analytical and technical support activities at Hemel Hempstead will be maintained at the new site. “We shall make the investment to house them,” he told PRW.com.