Tobermore, one of the UK & Ireland’s leading construction manufacturers, has announced a £12million investment to expand its operations to meet the growing demand for new residential homes.
To kick-start the expansion, the company will invest £4million in new jobs across Great Britain and Ireland, including the creation of a dedicated technical design team to support its commercial customers. This will be followed by the construction of a new £8million production facility at its manufacturing site in Tobermore.
Kathryn Robinson, head of sales at Tobermore, said: “We know the industry is preparing for considerable growth in the construction of new homes and infrastructure, and this investment shows that Tobermore is ready to support our customers across the supply chain as they design, build, and supply the materials for their projects.”
“These plans will ensure that we have the right people, facilities, and equipment in place to produce the products they need at scale, so we can meet both the immediate need and an anticipated upsurge in customer demand.”
To address immediate capacity requirements driven by an increase in customer demand, Tobermore has also introduced additional night shifts in its manufacturing facilities.
Over the next few months, the company will also recruit 34 people to increase the technical and specification support available for customers. This includes a technical support service to help with permeable paving, retaining walls and landscape visualisations. They will also be recruiting 10 new roles within the commercial/B2B team, including two national housebuilder managers, as well as 11 new specification managers to support its continually growing customer base in Great Britain.
“By extending our design, technical, specification, and account teams, we will be able to provide housebuilders with the dedicated support they need for every stage of the build process,” added Kathryn. “We can provide everything from a complete design and visualisation service to the technical information needed to deliver everything from permeable paving to structural walls on site.”
As well as recruiting new staff, the company 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.
Laura McGlade, head of people at Tobermore, said: “We value our people and always look to reward their hard work and dedication by promoting internally. We do everything we can to equip our teams with the right resources, expertise, skills and training to empower them to progress and develop their careers with us.”
Tobermore’s planned new 3,000m2 will be able to produce over 1,000,000m2 paving blocks a year, increasing the company’s block paving production by 25%. The facility will be equipped with industry-leading manufacturing equipment that will deliver high-quality paving products at speed.
“Our customers are facing an incredible challenge to build more homes and commercial projects, including public realm and healthcare, and to do this quickly to very high standards,” explained Kathryn. “This investment demonstrates our commitment to supporting our customers. Increasing our production capacity means we will be able to not just meet but exceed anticipated demand, so they can keep on building.”
