Denmaur consolidates in new warehouse

Denmaur Independent Papers has relocated its warehousing to a 12,100sqm central facility in Leicestershire, in a move that it said will quadruple its capacity.

Managing director Mike Gee said the phased move to centralise its warehousing and logistics functions completed in late summer. The company also relocated its nearby Bardon sales office to the new facility.

Prior to opening the new site, Denmaur had two smaller central Bardon warehousing units, along with three others in the area, all of which were outside haulier sites. All five units have now been replaced by the new facility, which houses 24 staff - including 10 new starters, some of who were previously employed by the warehouse’s former occupant, Widdowson Group.

Denmaur director Andy Buxton, who has been with the company since August 2014, is managing the site.

Gee said: “Fundamentally, our stock business was growing at quite a good rate anyway and we obviously got a benefit out of the demise of Paperlinx, which produced a lot more business. To cope with that, we had to use quite a lot of outside storage in order to maintain stocks and supply.

“Our leases terminated in the middle of this year anyway so we saw an opportunity to consolidate all our warehousing into one location.”

The warehouse has 32,000 picking locations and can hold more than 20,000 tonnes of stock. Denmaur said last year it sold more than 200,000 metric tonnes of paper.

Gee added: “Large warehouses in the centre of the UK are not easy to come by because in the last recession a lot of property firms stopped building ‘speculative warehousing’, so there was actually quite a tight supply. But our primary thing was to try and remain in the same area, as we feel it’s a very good hub and it wasn’t disruptive for staff members.”

Earlier this month, Denmaur announced that it had become a fully carbon balanced company, a move that followed its relaunch of the Revive brand of recycled papers back in April.

Aside from the new Bardon warehouse, Denmaur also has headquarters in Sittingbourne, Kent and branches in Cheshire, Bristol, Leeds and Hertfordshire.

It employs 115 staff overall and last year turned over £127m.