Sharon Harte is Managing Director of Dacrylate Paints Limited, an independently owned manufacturer of high-performance coatings in Nottinghamshire. Royal Warrant holders for more than 30 years, Dacrylate remains family owned and run, and still upholds all the traditions and values of its founder, combined with progressive technologies to compete in the 21st Century. The business, founded after the war by Harte’s grandfather, CH Morton, continues in its determination to provide innovative bespoke coatings solutions across multiple industries.

Harte also holds the position of President of the British Coatings Federation and is the first female President in the Federation’s 111-year history. She was elected at the organization’s Annual conference in May 2023 and takes over from Guy Williams following completion of his tenure and the unprecedented turbulence endured by the industry with the impacts of Brexit and Covid in recent years.
Harte stated that she is excited to support the British Coatings Federation, who were arecently warded the prestigious title of Best Trade Association of the Year at the 2023 Memcom Excellence Awards. This is the second time the Federation have earned this title.

The award was judged on various performance areas and was awarded to BCF based on their proven track record of outstanding member engagement and retention, demonstrating their commitment to their membership. BCF is delivering results through supply chain leadership in the UK, Europe and globally. The Federation are also holds the award for Good Governance.
Harte sees her new role as an honor and is looking forward to the opportunity to lead a highly accomplished board and non- executive committee supported by a highly motivated federation team of exceptional talent and technical expertise.

Harte is a passionate advocate of addressing gender disparity in both manufacturing, the Coatings industry and her own business and broader Equity, Diversity and Inclusion imperatives across the sector. This is coupled with a determination and work as a STEM ambassador to inspire the next generation of STEM professionals into the Coatings industry.  The sector has many challenges and federation will continue with its ambitious roadmap to deliver a more equitable and environmentally conscious coatings industry with purpose.

Q: Please provide some background information on Dacrylate Paints Limited.

Harte: Dacrylate Paints is an independently owned manufacturer of high-performance coatings in Nottinghamshire. Dacrylate remains family owned and run, and still upholds all the traditions and values of its founder, combined with progressive technologies to compete in the 21st Century. The business, operates its product development and manufacturing capability from its centrally located five-acre factory in the Midlands. Royal Warrant holders for over 30 years, we manufacture and supply coatings for the Royal Households plus a wider range of products for OEMs and our construction customer base.

Q: What types of paint and coatings do you make?

Harte: We manufacture and supply high-performance, industrial and decorative paints to provide innovative bespoke coatings solutions across multiple industries. These include water- and solvent-based offerings from an extensive range of single and two packs, polyurethanes, acrylics, vinyls through to polysiloxanne technologies.

Q: As newly elected President of the BCF, what are your main goals and objectives?

Harte: To continue the work of my predecessors to drive and deliver exceptional member value and maintain high member satisfaction levels. This has been achieved by supporting members on the issues that matter most to them. In the last few years this has been driven by helping them through the myriad of legislative and regulatory challenges (following regulatory divergence from the EU), a pandemic and challenging economic times.

I also want to increase the awareness and the importance and transformative impact of coatings to everyday life.  Our members’ products are everywhere: they protect, enrich and enhance the beauty of the world around us, as well as enabling communication and self-expression. They prevent decay and corrosion and make products last longer. They have a massive role to play in improved sustainability. We have a huge success story as an industry, and I want us to shout louder about the positive impacts of coatings on the world around us.

Q: What do you think are the most important issues impacting the British coatings industry?

Harte: In the UK, we need to see regulatory clarity and certainty, not least the future shape of UK REACH. We also need stable political and economic plans so that businesses can plan appropriate investment.

As a federation we also need to meet the challenge of reaching Net Zero. A lot of BCF members are well on their way to meeting their obligations with well-thought through plans and a reduction in carbon emissions. Others are just getting started and the BCF will be playing a role in helping them to calculate, record, report and reduce their emissions over the coming years as they progress their journeys.

Finally, I think skills and training are always important issues for our sector. We have a lot of highly qualified technical and regulatory staff in our sector who are reaching retirement age. We need to ensure the next generation of talent comes through to replace them and we will be expanding on our outreach work with numerous initiatives to fulfil that imperative. 

Q: What changes/improvements do you think need to be made to advance the industry?

Harte: Our industry has always been innovative, taking advantage of new technologies and constantly looking to improve performance. I think we could advance the value and importance of our sector to the wider economy and society – e.g., in terms of enabling a more sustainable world.

Our sector employs over 14,000 people and are a proud net exporter that directly contributes £4 billion to the UK economy and our sector supports UK manufacturing business and industries worth £300 billion, who rely on our members products.  The promotion of our sector will improve our ability to recruit new talent and lobby and collaborate with politicians and NGO’s. Our sector engages proactively with Government and regulators in tackling challenges but there will always be more advances to be made in support of our members.

I think we can always do more to modernize in terms of diversity and inclusion too. The industry has been male-dominated and older in age profile historically and we can certainly be proactive and progressive in opening it up to a broader range of people, which we need to do if we want the best talent pool. I look forward to the day when a woman being elected President of a manufacturing trade organization is no longer news or noteworthy by virtue of gender and I very much look forward to working with the Federation’s Board members who are committed to driving an ambitious ED&I and Sustainability agenda.