HQ switch on the cards for wool board

The Bradford-based organisation, which is moving from its premises, on Thornton Road, to a new 5.5m depot, on Canal Road, said the extension to the building will create 12,000 sq ft of office space and 33,000 sq ft of extra warehousing space.

The existing 96,000 sq ft building is the former Empire Direct warehouse which closed after the company went into administration.

Over the course of the last 12 months it has been refurbished to accommodate a state-of-the-art wool grading centre.

The depot, which has 23 staff, is used to grade wool from farmers based in the North Midlands to the Scottish Borders, and it is then distributed once it has been auctioned.

David Nunn, chief financial officer for BWMB, said it is likely that the organisation's headquarters, which is at the city's Euroway Industrial Estate, will also relocate to the building in the next two or three years.

He added: "The premises at Thornton Road made it very difficult to take the wool and handle it, and we had to use outside storage because there was no room on site. We have got more space at the new building which will improve the way we work."

He added: "Throughout the country, we are trying to streamline our operation and have one or two large depots in key locations."

The Bradford depot is expected to handle 5.4m kilos of wool in the year to April 2011, a figure the organisation hopes to increase when the extension is completed.

Building works will begin within the next three months with completion set for spring 2011.

The office part of the extension will be mainly insulated with sheep's wool fleece.

Mr Nunn said: "Most people use fibreglass as insulation but sheep's wool fleece is environmentally friendlier."

The new premises will create six or seven seasonal staff and three additional permanent jobs. However, Mr Nunn said more staff could be employed once the extension is built.

Andrew Cliff, partner and head of Ryden's building consultancy group, said: "We have been advising British Wool on their site at Canal Road for two years and as part of their strategy they saw an opportunity to extend their new facility to include administration offices and expand the warehouse providing grading, packing and storing wool fleeces.

"With our architectural and project management expertise, we have designed the extension, undertaken initial enabling works and submitted a detailed planning application which we are delighted has received a positive response."

Ian Hartley, chief executive of British Wool Marketing Board, said: "The new facility, including the administration offices, allows the board to service more than 5,000 producers in the north of England and gives the board opportunities to save costs and improve efficiencies."

Mr Nunn added: "We will save money by not having to pay for outside storage and we will be able to speed up the process of taking in the wool from farmers because all our facilities will be in one place."

Property firm Ryden advised BWMB on the acquisition of its distribution depot in 2008.

BWMB, which has been located in Bradford for more than 30 years, operates a central marketing system for UK fleece wool with the aim of achieving the best possible net return for farmers,

British Wool Marketing Board

The British Wool Marketing Board (BWMB) is a farmer-run organisation which was established in 1950 to operate a central marketing system for UK fleece wool, with the aim of achieving the best possible net return for producers.

It is the only organisation in the world that collects, grades, sells and promotes fleece wool and the only remaining agricultural commodity board in the UK.

The BWMB is a non-profit making organisation, returning to producers the market price for their wool, less its own costs.

There are 53,000 registered wool producers in the UK.

Day-to-day operations are run from the board's headquarters in Bradford, with small regional offices in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.