North West flooring firm expands with new £3m factory
Family-owned business, John Lord Holdings, has today announced the completion of a £3m expansion project into a brand new, purpose-built factory in the Park 66 development in South Bury.
Works at the new site are now complete and have been supported by funding from Barclays.
The business provides nationally-recognised, specialist floor finishes dedicated to servicing the food and drinks and pharmaceutical industries, which require hard wearing, impact and chemical-resistant flooring at their manufacturing and packaging facilities.
Their existing North Bury site will now be re-purposed to expand into a range of soft flooring options, suited to commercial, residential and public sectors.
Founded by John Lord in 1901, the business is now led by John’s great-grandson, Stephen Lord, who took over the reins in the 1980’s after learning the family trade for over a decade.
This strategic move to construct purpose-built premises at a new additional site in Bury enables the business to increase production efficiencies and expand services to meet growing consumer demand and creates capacity for new local jobs.
Stephen Lord said; “As a fourth generation, family business owner, I think it is important to lay down a firm business foundation for the next generation, as well as safeguarding employment security for our existing workforce.
“Sanctioning this project was a difficult decision, especially in these uncertain economic times, but the greater risk to any business is to stand still.
“Since moving into these premises we have invested in a number of additional sales, contracts and commercial managers and as the business grows this will lead to the hiring of even more factory operatives and installation crews.”
He added: “I’ve had an excellent relationship with Barclays over many decades, which enabled me to purchase and expand another business, Canal Engineering, in 2001, and now our new premises in Bury.”
The new building features more than 25,000 sq ft of dedicated space for offices, sales and a lab, as well as manufacturing space for mixing aggregate minerals and blending resins, and warehousing to store finished materials.
The new site also includes greater capacity for transport logistics and is situated in an area designed for industrial and retail use.
Flexibility of the sites in Bury now also offer potential joint development opportunities with John Lord’s other factory sites in Nottingham.
Robin Richards, Barclays relationship director who put together the funding package for this deal said: “John Lord Holdings have a long-standing relationship with Barclays and I’ve had the pleasure of working with Stephen Lord for a number of years.
“This move to new, purpose-built premises presented a fantastic opportunity to support them as they continue to expand their operations, contributing to the prosperity of Bury and the North West, and future-proofing the business for many years to come.”
