Member Article

Lanchester Group invests £6.5m in new Tyneside storage facilities creating at least 20 new jobs

Lanchester Group is heading for “millionaire” status as it boosts its warehousing capacity to cope with continued rapid growth in its Greencroft Bottling business.

The “carbon-minus” company has acquired additional warehousing on Tyneside, bringing its total storage floorspace close to one million square feet and giving the company the largest bonded warehouse capacity in the North of England.

The new capacity enables the group to keep pace with increasing throughput at its Greencroft Bottling plant, at Annfield Plain. Most of the wine it bottles is made up of New World varieties, mainly imported in bulk through Teesport for the UK market.

All told, the family-owned group is investing £6.5m in new state-of-the-art storage facilities on Tyneside as it creates between 20 and 25 new jobs on the back of a rise in turnover to £80m (up from £65m).

The latest addition to the group’s warehouse portfolio is in Felling, and – at 225,000 sq ft – is the largest single off-site warehousing unit in the portfolio. The new bonded storage facility, acquired from Gateshead Council, will come online in early summer after the company has completed renovation and insulation works.

Other new facilities include 135,000 sq ft, also in Felling, and 100,000 sq ft at Blaydon, plus its original 450,000 sq ft at Annfield Plain, making a total of more than 900,000 sq ft.

As part of the expansion of its storage options, Lanchester is spending a further £1.5m at its Annfield Plain headquarters site to improve roads and parking on and around the site. A third of that investment will go on state-of-the-art LED lighting for the site, contributing to the group’s “carbon negative” status.

It has also acquired a new fleet of 20 new gas-powered Toyota Tonero forklift trucks to service the new facilities.

Group Managing Director Tony Cleary said: “Buying these three new major facilities over the past 24 months has been extremely important for the group to ensure we are able to maintain our recent growth. There is a shortage of very large warehouses in the region and I am absolutely delighted to have secured these for our portfolio.

“Our new warehousing facilities enable us to maintain our continued growth at both our Annfield Plain headquarters and in other parts of the region. We are excited to be able to renovate and bring back to life previously redundant warehousing facilities in Blaydon and Felling, creating new jobs in the process.”

He continued: “We are extremely proud at Lanchester to remain a family business that is delivering sustainable growth and new jobs across North East England in the most environmentally sustainable manner possible.”

Looking to promote your product/service to SME businesses in your region? Find out how Bdaily can help →