Oregon opens new Burton plant

The company opened its first timber frame factory south of the border, a 3,200m2 plant also in Burton, in 2010, but the lease came up for renewal, and rather than find another unit to rent, it decided to buy its own.

The new 2,000ft2 facility will initially have capacity to make 300 house kits per annum, supplementing Selkirk's 6,000-unit annual output. It will service volume housebuilders, and social housing providers (and besides kits the company also sells its highly insulating "intelligent panel" system OregonIP to builders).

"Our new Burton plant is very good news for the business and for local employment," said sales and marketing manager Elaine Wilson. "And it highlights our commitment to a production site in England, which enables us to better service English customers and is better from the eco point of view as it cuts our delivery miles."

Ms Wilson acknowledged that the timber frame market, in common with construction generally, had been through difficult times, but said that there were signs of gradual improvement.

"Things are slowly starting to build up and the new Building Regulations on housing energy performance will benefit the timber frame sector," she said. "Longer term we do aim to increase Burton's capacity."

Oregon has also announced the appointment of Russell Kendell to head up its England sales operation.