£14m factory sale to complete manufacturer’s exit

Building products manufacturer Forterra has sold its Swadlincote site for £14.2m, a year after it revealed plans to begin its exit.

A drop in demand was blamed for it deciding to mothball its flooring manufacturing facility last summer with the loss of 225 jobs.

At the time it said the closure would not affect the specialist precast concrete facility at the same South Derbyshire site. But last month it announced it too would close, with the loss of 90 jobs.

A deal has now been done with an unnamed buyer for the site.

Forterra will continue to lease part of the site for a nominal amount until the end of the year as remaining operations are wound up and manufacture of is moved 30 miles north to its Somercotes facility.

It is a condition of the sale that the Swadlincote site will not be used for the manufacture of building products.