Chancellor Visits BSW Timber’s Dalbeattie Site as £7 million Investment Creates Jobs and Increase Pr
April 29, 2010
Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling MP visited BSW Timber’s Howie Forest Products site at Dalbeattie today (Thursday 29 April).
The visit follows the announcement this week that BSW Timber has unveiled plans for a multi-million pound investment at the site following a successful acquisition of Howie’s in November 2009.
The Dalbeattie mill is the largest single-location sawmill in UK and BSW plans to invest over £7 million into the site in a drive to increase productivity by more than 50%. The investment means that some 20 jobs have been created in the development phase at the sawmill, which employs now 160 people.
Mr Darling noted: “Howie Forest Products is very much a part of the local community, so I’m delighted to see BSW’s commitment to developing the site at Dalbeattie.
“The sawmill is making impressive contributions to the local economy and employment. Growth in the UK economy is reliant on investment by businesses such as BSW in low-carbon and advanced manufacturing solutions.
“I welcome such forward thinking under challenging economic conditions. The Government will do all that it can to help businesses like BSW prosper.”
Tony Hackney, BSW Chief Executive, said: “The Chancellor’s visit is an opportunity to highlight the investment that BSW is making in its sawmills in Scotland and across the UK which underlines our position as the UK’s leading sawmilling business
“It shows our confidence in the growth in demand from the UK manufacturing market for British timber due to a combination of technological advances and the high cost of imports.
“This is a growing and sustainable industry with the prospect to create more investment and job opportunities throughout the timber supply chain - which will have a huge positive effect for rural areas like Dalbeattie.”
Hamish Macleod, Managing Director at Howie Forest Products said about the latest investment, “This is great news for us and underlines the confidence that BSW Timber have in their investment here at Dalbeattie”.
First phase investment in Dalbeattie will see productivity increase from 230,000 m³ sawn timber to more than 350,000m³. The installation of a new planer and grader line will almost double production of Easi-Edge™ construction timber from 65,000m³ to 120,000m³ each year.
The manufacture of this added value timber product will be further increased by investment in a new stacker system to improve operational efficiencies and produce an additional 50,000m³ of Easi-Edge volume, whilst releasing greenmill capacity.
The Dalbeattie site will also benefit from investment in a new heat source facility for the operation and kilns. Current plans include the construction of a biomass boiler which will use the site’s natural timber co-products to produce enough heat energy to sustainably supply the increased demand on the site.