Essential Coatings

Find out more about Essential Coatings by reading our new report here.

Coatings – decorative paints, industrial and powder coatings, printing inks, and wallcoverings - contribute to the world around us through essential uses in industry across a whole host of different sectors. They enable us to live better, safer, and more comfortable lives, as well as assist the drive towards a more sustainable world, for instance with a direct role in enhancing the life-cycle of products and improving energy efficiency, as well as in supporting the development of green energy infrastructure.

And, of course, there is a bottom line – the coatings sector makes a huge contribution to the UK in financial and economic terms. It is a £4 billion industry, directly employing 14,000 people: and it is a net exporter. But its impact is far wider, with industries downstream – from health to aerospace – worth around £300 billion GDP per annum relying on coatings products in some way or another, and over 300,000 people working directly with coatings every day.

The coatings sector here in the UK is world-leading, both in terms of current performance and innovation. We are a success story.