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Tobermore has announced a £12 million expansion plan to meet rising demand for hard landscaping products; its investment includes an £8 million new production facility and £4 million for job creation.
The company aims to ramp up its operations in response to the growing demand in the construction sector, driven by both current and anticipated market growth.
To address short-term needs, Tobermore has already increased night shifts. The new 3,000m² factory will produce over 1 million m² of paving blocks annually, increasing production by 25%. The state-of-the-art facility will feature advanced manufacturing technology to ensure the company can deliver high-quality products at speed, helping meet the demand for both walling and landscaping products. This will allow Tobermore to fulfil orders even at short notice, offering a significant advantage to their customers.
“We will be investing in the latest technology so our production lines will continue to be some of the fastest and most efficient, not just in the UK but globally,” explained Trevor Smyth, head of manufacturing at Tobermore. “This means we’ll be able to produce stock extremely quickly, giving us the ability to fulfil orders even at short notice.”
In addition to the new facility, Tobermore will recruit 34 new staff members to enhance technical and specification support for customers. These new roles will provide a complete design and technical support service, helping merchants and their clients with everything from permeable paving to the construction of mortarless structural walls. The company will also create 10 new positions in its commercial and B2B teams, including national housebuilder managers and specification managers based across Great Britain.
“By expanding our design, technical, specification, and account teams, we’ll be able to offer merchants and their customers dedicated support at every stage of the customer journey,” said Richard Wardle, head of GB merchant sales. “Our technical team is also on hand to support merchants with everything from permeable paving to the construction of mortarless structural walls.”
As well as recruiting new staff, Tobermore has made 11 internal promotions. Anna McAleer, currently head of specification (National) & commercial sales (Ireland), and lee blackburn, head of commercial sales (GB), will be promoted to joint heads of strategic growth in Britain.
This is just the latest in a series of investments by Tobermore to support its ambitious growth plans. The company opened a £10 million production facility in 2020 to expand block paving production capacity, and in 2022, it unveiled an £8.6 million manufacturing unit to boost production of paving slabs. These previous investments have already allowed Tobermore to increase its overall block paving production by approximately 25% and slab production by around 40% compared to five years ago, positioning the company to meet growing demand as the construction market continues to expand.
