Engineering

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Mechanical and Production Engineering

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering

Chemical and Process Engineers are in demand throughout the world and have a huge variety of employment opportunities in areas such as chemicals & allied products, energy, food & drink, materials & products, mining & minerals, oil & gas, pharmaceuticals, and water.

Chemicals & Allied products
As the largest manufacturing sector in Yorkshire, Chemicals is forecast to increase output by 23% from £2.4bn to over £2.9bn by 2012. The region has a diverse chemical development industry ranging from bulk chemicals manufacturing on the Humber to fine chemicals, dyes, speciality chemicals and surface coatings across the rest of Yorkshire.

Famous names in the region include CIBA, BP Chemicals, ConocoPhillips, Tencel, A H Marks, NPIL Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd and Novartis. In total there are over 400 chemical manufacturing sites and a well developed supply chain of supporting industries.

Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology
Employing over 10,000 people within the life sciences and related industries, and with over 40 core bioscience companies and more than 75 bio-science related businesses, the bioscience industry in Yorkshire is continuing to grow. A significant proportion of this growth is associated with small, entrepreneurial drug discovery & development companies and contract research organisations.

Most smaller companies can be found around York, Sheffield and Leeds - many of them as spinout companies from universities, with the University of Sheffield recently opening its new £10 million nanoscience and technology research centre.

There are some larger companies elsewhere in the region such as Covance in Harrogate and Reckitt Benckiser in Hull. With smaller companies the emphasis is likely to be on research but there could still be opportunities for Chemical Engineers in other areas such as process development.

Food and Drink Industry
Yorkshire and Humber is the UK's biggest food producer, dominating a number of food sectors and home to some of the world's best companies. There are more than 15,000 companies in Yorkshires food and drink sector making it the largest concentration in the UK.

The food and drink industry is the region's second largest sector and employs over 200,000 people across its core constituent sectors; agriculture, manufacturing, wholesale and retailing. This industry also remains one of the largest sources of employment in rural and coastal areas.

The region is a major centre for seafood processing, with the Humber responsible for 30 to 40% of the UK's fish processing output. The region is also home to a large concentration of breweries who produce around a third of the UK's beer.

Well-known manufacturers include Nestle, Heinz, Coca-Cola, Northern Foods, Young's, McCain, Allied Breweries, Warburtons, Asda-Walmart, and Geest. All of these provide opportunities in production and manufacturing systems. There are also over 1,100 food and drink processing companies, many of which are small niche manufacturers. Aspects of the Food and Drink industry can be found in every city and town (and many villages) in the region however there is some concentration of larger food companies in the West Yorkshire and Humberside areas. In North Yorkshire, Tadcaster is noted for its brewing industry.

Useful links:

Institution of Chemical Engineers

The hub for chemical, biochemical and process engineering professionals worldwide.

Yorkshire Chemical Focus

Based in Huddesfield, Yorkshire Chemical Focus (YCF) is a not-for-profit industry-led membership organisation to support and promote Yorkshire's £2.2 billion chemical sector.

Humber Chemical Focus

Provides an independent voice for chemical and related businesses in the Humber.

Yorkshire Forward's BioScience cluster
Download the pdf about the Bioscience cluster here.

Science City York - useful links

Useful links to other science-related organisations in the region, with many linked to the chemical or pharmaceutical sectors.

Yorkshire Forward Food & Drink Cluster

Food, drink and agriculture is a major part of the economy in Yorkshire and Humber and is one of the priority clusters in this region. Read about the current regional strategy for the Food and Drink sector on their downloadable pdf.