Northumberland-headquartered Merit has announced a 4000sq m factory expansion at its Cramlington site, to accommodate its plans for continued growth. Merit already has one of the largest construction manufacturing facilities in the UK at 270,000sq ft (25,084sq m) and it is now extending its factory space to address increasing demand and to better meet customers’ needs.
In line with its impressive growth plans, Merit has already doubled its workforce in the last two years and expects this facility expansion to add over 50 new jobs. The extended high-bay facility will accommodate two new manufacturing lines for Merit’s UltraPOD+ product, an expandable full building solution, and will enable the pre-assembly and testing of two-modules vertically stacked.
This provides an enhanced understanding of the alignment of modules prior to the transportation to the site. Additional equipment, such as two 50T gantry cranes and a module lifting frame, will also be included into the new setup. The factory expansion will enable Merit to compete even more successfully for larger contracts against global competition and deliver long term growth for the business and is expected to be operational by April 2023.
Tony Wells, CEO of Merit, commented: "Merit’s strategic objective is to deliver a step change in productivity within the construction industry and to show that investment in R&D and leveraging innovative approaches, such as advanced 4D BIM modelling technology, can lead to significant improvements. Our factory expansion will enable us to further optimise our way of working and better serve our customers."
Merit has also announced plans to double its apprenticeship targets in 2023, as part of its ongoing efforts to address future skills needs. This follows the latest report from the Construction Skills Network (CSN) which predicts that an extra 7,900 workers will be needed in the North East from 2023 to 2027 to meet construction demand. If projected growth is A new timber industry net zero roadmap aims to accelerate the productivity, sustainability, and innovation of the sector to better meet the needs of a low-carbon world. Commissioned by Timber Development UK (TDUK) in collaboration with eleven UK timber trade associations, the Timber Industry Net Zero Roadmap was developed following a met, the construction workforce in the UK will remain around 2.67 million.
Merit has been committed to investing in homegrown talent for many years, starting its apprenticeship programme back in 2013. It has so far worked with nearly 60 local apprentices, in which all have received a full-time employment offer once completing the programme. Now in its tenth year, Merit plans to create a further 20 opportunities this year to help meet the business’ need for more skilled workers following a string of successful project wins, including the UK’s first CAR-T cell manufacturing facility for Autolus Therapeutics and Piramal’s CD manufacturing facility expansion.
Source: www.merit.co.uk
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