Aycliffe Today Business Aycliffe Today Business Issue 31 | Page 13
The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 13
Wharton Construction site manager Andrew Honeyman (left) and
estimator Stewart Crinson (right) with Stiller Warehousing and
Distribution fleet and facilities manager Herbie Blaser (second
left) and pallet distribution manager Michael Garnett, on the site
of Stiller’s new £2m distribution centre.
Stiller’s new £2m distribution centre
N
ewton Aycliffe family-run
firm Stiller Warehousing and
Distribution is investing £2m in
a new distribution centre which
could eventually create up to 25
new jobs.
Stiller is creating the new 50,000 sq ft
facility at its 22-acre site on Aycliffe Business
Park to help the firm cope with sustained
growth which has seen annual sales rise by
more than 20% to £14.4m.
The palletised distribution centre will be
the largest of its type in the North East and
will allow Stiller to load 30 vehicles at any
one time.
The scheme, which is being project
managed by award-winning Darlington firm
Wharton Construction, will also create more
than 60 off-street car parking spaces and
include a new large open-plan office for over
20 office staff.
Bosses at the firm, which has already
taken on 26 new employees this year, say
the project could create up to 25 new jobs,
which would take Stiller’s total head count
to 190.
Stiller’s existing distribution operation is
run from one of the firm’s older warehouses.
The new development will enable Stiller
to create more warehousing space within
its current distribution centre as well as
upgrading it.
Managing director Matthew Stiller
explained: “Moving the distribution side of
the business to its new home is primarily to
By Martin Walker
enable us better cope with the rate of growth
we’re currently experiencing.
“It will also mean we’ll no longer have
trucks running through one of our larger
warehouses, but it will also give us the
opportunity to develop what is now being
used as a distribution centre into extra
warehousing space, while upgrading it to a
higher standard.
“We’re looking to improve our storage
facilities and bring them all up to the
standard of the new warehouses we’ve
invested in over the last few years.”
Stiller’s latest investment in equipment,
people and facilities – including two new
warehouses costing more than £1.8m
between them – takes the company’s total
spend to almost £9m in the last three years.
More than £1.1m was spent on a new
state-of-the-art, 40,000 sq ft warehouse in
2015, increasing the company’s warehousing
capacity to 200,000 sq ft, and last year it
invested another £750,000 in a 40,000 sq ft
extension, which was completed earlier this
year, while more than £5m has been spent
on new vehicles in that time.
Stiller’s new distribution centre will take
up five acres of the firm’s 22-acre site at
Ridgeway on Aycliffe Business Park, and its
construction is also supporting local jobs.
As well as main contractor Wharton
Construction, which was recently handed
the best large company award from Northern
Counties Safety Group for health and safety,
Darlington-based ADG Architects, Durham
civil engineers BDN and PTS Demolition of
Shildon are all involved in the project, as well
as Aycliffe-based John Wade Group and SCH
Site Services.
Matthew said: “There are several other
sub-contractors based on Aycliffe Business
Park we’re extremely pleased to be working
with on the project.
“It has seriously been very much our
ambition to support local jobs, so we’re
always steered towards using local
companies.
“We’re building this on a piece of land
which is currently underdeveloped. This will
take a big stride towards our whole 22-acre
site being fully developed, so it’s a massive
step forward for us.”
Stiller’s turnover by the end of 2017 is
expected to hit £14.4m, up £2.5m from
£11.9m in 2016, which is made up of £10.2m
from distribution and £4.2m warehousing,
while its workforce has grown to 164 this
year.
Matthew added: “Our growth this year
has been down to winning new contracts
in both sides of the business and a general
uplift in our pallet network system, Palletline,
a national co-operative which is experiencing
growth.
“The number of pallets we’re distributing
around the North-East region is picking up,
and on the warehousing side we have won
significant new business in 2017.”
More about Stiller can be found at
www.stiller.co.uk