Arnold Laver get green light for North East regeneration project

The Arnold Laver Group, UK supplier of timber and building materials, has been given the go-ahead to regenerate a former shipbuilding steel plate works in the North East.

Fifty jobs have been safeguarded and a further 30 will be created after planning chiefs gave the go-ahead for the timber merchant to relocate from Tyne Dock to a new Arnold Laver Timber World Call Collect depot on the former Dent Steel site in Hebburn, South Tyneside.

The Timber World division offers a call collect service and nationwide delivery of a wide range of products including softwoods and hardwoods, sheet material, joinery products and laminates.

Laver's, with headquarters in Sheffield and 14 branches across the UK, will spend more than half a million pounds on installing a mill and refurbishment at the new depot, with work expected to be completed early next year.

Arnold Laver director Mark Bower said: "The project is part of our national expansion plans focussing on providing our full range of stock and production capabilities to serve the local market."