Arnold Laver Timber World’s £8m national production centre, just opened in Sheffield, is being hailed by the company as the “largest investment in the UK timber industry in recent times”.
The Olympic Sawmills complex at Mosborough, built on the site of a derelict sewage works, was opened by Sheffield MP and minister for sport Richard Caborn on August 30 and will create at least 80 jobs over the next 12-18 months.
It features a sawmill, design engineering production facility, call collect centre and regional sales headquarters. About 170 staff are transferring to the facility from other Laver sites in Sheffield and Chesterfield.
Three computer-controlled Leadermac moulding machines are at the core of the facility, capable of producing the company’s stock patterns, plus any design requested by customers.
The result, says Laver, is that production will be “significantly” increased while also making improvements in finishing quality.
The call collect centre, the first of a number of such outlets to be rolled out nationally, houses stocks of softwoods, hardwoods, sheet materials, joinery products, laminates and worktops, building products and hardware.
Group managing director David Laver said: “It is fitting that this facility has been built in Sheffield, where the business first began in 1920.”
