Premier Paper has gone into detail about its tripart expansion in Dartford, Bristol and the North East. 

The paper merchant has opened a 63,000sqft warehouse in Kent, doubled the size of its operation in the West Country and acquired an adjoining unit in Washington, Tyne and Wear.

‘Premier is a very agile company and we are able to move quickly in order to support the changing needs of our customers,’ explained group marketing director David Jones. ‘This has led to a significant investment programme in developing market sectors and in a number of geographical areas across the UK where we are refining our service offer and increasing the choice of products available for our customers.’

The new premises in Dartford will be Premier’s centre of operations for London and the wide South East region.

‘Dartford also holds an extensive range of wide-format roll and large-format sheet media for the display market,’ Mr Jones added. ‘We carry a wide choice of display products, including foam boards, aluminium composite material (ACM) and acrylic sheets in various thicknesses, all available to be converted to an exact size and quantity as required by our customers. Again the investment in this area has been significant, with the installation of a state-of-the-art Striebig wall saw, controlled by optimising software to ensure the most efficient and cost effective conversion of products.’

In Bristol Premier has more than doubled the size of its this operation, increasing its footprint to 35,000sqft of warehouse capacity holding over 10,000 pallets. Over 5,000 tonnes of product are now held in the city, supported by a further 40,000 tonnes of product held in the Premier network and all available for next day delivery.

‘The new Bristol branch will now allow us to expand our service,’ Mr Jones explained. ‘Giving customers a greater choice from a locally held product range is a key part of our service offering and a major factor as we drive towards greater productivity and efficiency.’

Premier’s Cheltenham satellite logistics hub will now be integrated into the Bristol operation. The three people based in Cheltenham have been offered positions in Bristol as part of our expanding operation.

Finally, in the North East Premier’s Washington branch and its satellite logistics hub, based in Carlisle, services customers throughout the north of England and into the Scottish borders. As a result of consistent growth in this region Premier has now acquired an adjoining unit and has doubled the available warehouse space to 11,000sqft.

‘In spite of the numerous external economic factors such as decreasing global demand for coated paper, the uncertainty of Brexit and now coronavirus impacting on the UK economy, Premier continues to grow in its key strategic development areas,’ Mr Jones concluded. ‘Our Washington operation is a great example of achieving growth in a challenging market.’