Packaging specialist unveils £6m investment

Packaging specialist Solidus has unveiled a £6m investment as it looks to grow the business in the UK.

The company is owned by Netherlands-based Solidus Solutions, one of the oldest cardboard manufacturers in Europe, which bought Skipton-based Northern Paper Board in 2018.

The investment sees the launch of a standalone, one-stop UK business model incorporating the head office in Skipton, North Yorkshire, an existing production unit in Corby, Northants, and impending launch of a brand-new facility in Northern Ireland.

The business employs 150 people, split equally between Skipton and Corby.

Solidus’s director of sales, Paul Garstang, said: “2025 effectively represents the launch of the standalone Solidus UK ‘one-stop-shop’ business unit, a keynote investment in the very future of the business itself.

“It not only cements our position as market leader, the only manufacturer of solid board in our geographic market that currently has the breadth of capability and capacity sited in the UK, but it’s also a real game-changer for both the company and our expanding customer base in order to underpin both current and future business expansion potential.”

The latest extension at the six-acre site in Skipton was completed last year, with further expansion planned in 2025 that will double the size of the current 70,000 sq ft facility.

A 35,000 sq ft extension at Corby was completed in July last year, increasing its footprint to 170,000 sq ft.

The new 30,000sq ft Northern Ireland site in Armagh is scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2025 and will serve the whole of the Irish market.