Grange Fencing is opening a new factory at the Port of Hull to deal with future forecasted growth and service the north of England.

The multi-thousand pound investment is due to come on stream at the end of the year and managing director Duncan Hill said it would produce “multiple miles” of fence panels and trellis.

He said: “By the middle of next year we will be producing all our core products there. By next spring we will be employing more than 40 people and intend there to be just over 60 within three years.”

The new factory will produce about one third of requirements – the remainder coming from the company’s Shropshire sites.

Mr Hill said: “We bring a lot of timber in from the Baltics where we have done a lot of work on certification and it seemed logical to put the factory near to the raw material supply so we can process it at the point of entry.”

&#8220We have a number of sites all in a close geographic area in Shropshire and the Midlands which do not give us any economies of distribution. We always felt we needed a northern site, and the trigger for doing it was being able to get certified timber out of the Baltic
”

Grange Fencing managing director Duncan Hill

The new factory is an existing building on the docks which belongs to Associated British Ports. It is being extended to around 30-35,000ft2 and assembly and treatment lines for fence panels and trellis are being installed. Mr Hill said: “It is a substantial investment.”

Several acres of dedicated hard standing adjacent to the factory will provide storage for winter stocks.

Mr Hill said: “It will make our Baltic supplies more attractive as we have taken some cost out of our supply chain.

“We have a number of sites all in a close geographic area in Shropshire and the Midlands which do not give us any economies of distribution. We always felt we needed a northern site, and the trigger for doing it was being able to get certified timber out of the Baltic.”