Company's 'green' plans for city site expansion

A Wearside-based pallet making businesses, is expanding – and beefing up its ‘green’ credentials.

James Jones & Sons has been given the go-ahead to redevelop its site in Hetton into a 55,000 sq ft facility that will include the installation of a biomass boiler.

James Jones & Sons (Pallets and Packaging) needs more room to support growing customer demand.

The new space will support the pallet-making process and will also allow the firm to install a biomass boiler, which will be fuelled by its own recycled timber, reducing carbon emissions and further strengthening the company’s contribution to a circular supply chain.

The business, the UK’s leading supplier of homegrown timber to the UK pallet and packaging industry, engaged the services of Building Design Northern (BDN), a Sunderland based architectural, structural and civil engineering firm, to design the new facility.

Peter McKenzie, managing director of James Jones’s Pallets and Packaging, said: “We are delighted to receive planning permission for this development.

"Our business is fully committed to creating a sustainable supply chain and takes every step to ensure that any new developments carefully consider local wildlife and habitats, residents and the environment.

Managing director of BDN, Richard Marsden, said: “We’re pleased to have been able to support Peter and the James Jones team in shaping plans for a new production facility that will aide their expansion as well as making them a more energy-efficient business, which will also help keep energy costs down.