Stewart Milne Timber Systems has boosted capacity at its Aberdeen plant following the installation of a £400,000 Swedish Randek assembly line, new warehousing and logistical facilities.
The investment will see the plant’s output increase from 4,500 homes to more than 6,000 a year.
Hamish Morrison, operations director at Stewart Milne Timber Systems in Scotland, said the new equipment was designed to support growing business in large panel fabrication and improve the health and safety/working environment for staff.
Mr Morrison said: “The Scottish investment will deliver production transformation to meet the demands of the Health and Safety Executive and the construction market.”
Stewart Milne’s Witney factory in Oxfordshire was the first UK timber frame operation to invest in a Randek assembly line, which at the time was billed the world’s quickest by its Swedish manufacturer.
The Aberdeen factory has also benefited from the installation of double-sided Cantilever racking for under cover storage, effectively doubling its warehouse space to 2,700m2.
Pallet racking and steel partitioning was also installed to create a sorting area for the preparation of sub kits to service joinery and roughings complete kits.
Stewart Milne, which aims to continue its expansion across Scotland and throughout the UK, attributes the success of timber housing to cost, speed of erection, quality and environmental benefits.
The group now fabricates about 2.4 million m2 of timber systems and wall and floor panels a year, producing homes for the private, public and commercial sectors, ranging from 1-4 bedroomed homes/flats to 800m2 mansions and 180-bed hotels.
