Member Article

Wood specialists carve out a gold membership

Northumberland Wildlife Trust has welcomed Hexham based EGGER UK (Ltd) as its first gold category corporate supporter of 2022.

The wood-based materials materials manufacturer is part of an international, family owned, Austrian business, which has been based in Hexham for the last 38 years. It employs over 600 people and makes chipboard panels in the UK for the furniture and interior design industry, and structural flooring for the housebuilding industry.

The wildlife charity has a number of nature reserves near EGGER’s Hexham plant including Juliet’s Wood, Tony’s Patch and South Close Field and is particularly impressed with the company’s commitment to the environment.

EGGER is committed to producing high quality products that have as little impact on the environment as possible. The Hexham site is thriving with local wildlife and it actively maintains and promotes biodiversity in the area.

Each year hundreds of Sand and House Martins migrate to the manufacturing site to nest in the log yard. The team at EGGER has built bespoke nest boxes for the birds, which start to nest in March and lay in June, to protect them from daily site movements. In addition to this, EGGER also welcomes Oyster Catchers, stoats and hedgehogs to the site.

After the floods in 2015, EGGER installed defences to protect its site. As part of this, the team planted wild flowers to provide pollinators and insects with leaves, pollen, nectar, shelter and places to breed.

The site is also home to over 200,000 bees (in four beehives) that help pollinate the local area, and provide delicious honey for employees.

In addition to this, EGGER operates a Sustainable Urban Drainage System onsite. The log yard sits on a minor gradient so that any surface water drains towards a reed bed, which cleanses the water before it enters the natural watercourse.

Sarah Dunn, Energy and Environmental Manager, at EGGER UK (Ltd), said, “We are delighted to become a gold supporter of The Northumberland Wildlife Trust. We embrace the local wildlife that chooses to visit our site and actively look for ways to protect and promote it. Wildlife is a vital part of our local ecosystem and, like the sustainably managed forests we source our timber from, it must be maintained.”

Mike Pratt, Northumberland Wildlife Trust Chief Executive says: “I am thrilled to have EGGER as our first gold supporter of 2022.

“As a company, EGGER has provided great career opportunities and worked closely with the local community to ensure its success. We too work very closely with local communities, many of whom have turned to nature for the sake of their mental health and wellbeing, so it is great to have the support from an organisation that thinks the same way we do.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Northumberland Wildlife Trust .