HRH Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, visited BSW Timber’s Howie Forest Products site at Dalbeattie today (Wednesday 14 July).
The Royal Visit follows BSW Timber’s recent announcement that the site will benefit from a £7 million investment.
The Dalbeattie mill is the largest single-location sawmill in UK and BSW intends the multi-million pound investment 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 180 people.
Tony Hackney, BSW chief executive, said: “The Duke of Edinburgh’s visit has given us an opportunity to showcase our investment at Dalbeattie, and to highlight similar commitments across all our sites. We are proud to be the UK’s leading sawmilling business and will maintain that position by continuing to make substantial investments for the growth and security of the business.”
Hamish Macleod, managing director at Howie Forest Products, said: “The UK sawmilling sector is a growth industry which offers lucrative investment opportunities throughout its supply chain. Our recent outlay at Dalbeattie is focused on delivering maximum value while demonstrating an unwavering commitment to the local area and our confidence in the sector.
The first phase investment in Dalbeattie will see productivity increase in sawn timber and the installation of a new planer and grader line will almost double production of Easi-Edge™ construction timber 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 to feed the additional 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 bi-products to produce enough heat energy to sustainably supply the increased demand on the site.
