West Midlands manufacturer ‘opens the door’ to growth via £1m Lloyds funding

A West Midlands based supplier of specialised steel doors has invested £1m in a new sustainable warehouse to help grow and decarbonise its operations, thanks to support from Lloyds Bank.

Latham’s Steel Doors is one of the UK’s largest manufacturers of steel security doors, selling its products to customers worldwide from its online store. Beginning as a sole trader on eBay, the business has grown to 85 employees, selling tens of thousands of doors to trade customers and consumers every year.

Due to increasing demand from Europe and America, the firm has decided to invest in a bespoke warehouse, connected to its current premises in Oldbury, Sandwell, just outside of Birmingham.

To support the manufacturer with its growth, Lloyds Bank provided £1m worth of funding for the brand-new warehouse via its Clean Growth Financing Initiative, which gives customers access to discounted lending for green purposes.

The purpose-built facility has been designed to save as much energy as possible and includes state of the art energy efficient air conditioning, LED lighting, electric car charge points and cycle storage. This has enabled the building to achieve an EPC A rating – the highest energy efficiency rating a property can receive.

The installation of 50kw solar panels covering the 20,000 sq ft roof are also linked to the firm’s existing manufacturing facility on the site, helping power the building and charge its electric forklift trucks to contribute to decarbonising its operations.

Alex Latham, managing director of Latham’s Steel Doors, commented: “We hold 10,000 doors in stock at any one time, to ensure that our customers can collect or have their door delivered to install on the same day that they order.

“By moving all our stock to our new warehousing facility, our original site can be dedicated solely to manufacturing while we can streamline our operations and concentrate on growing. With Lloyds Bank’s investment and guidance, we’ve been able to build our new space to maximise energy efficiency.”

Rob Taylor, relationship director at Lloyds Bank, said: “Latham’s Steel Doors is a fantastic Midlands business which has grown organically due to the consistent high quality of its products and its excellent customer service.

“The business is now looking to the future with a new low energy warehousing facility, ensuring it has the capacity to meet growing demand in a sustainable way. We look forward to supporting the team and will be by their side as they continue to invest and grow.”

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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