BSW Group Strengthens its Position in UK Forestry

BSW Group strengthens 2025 position with major investments and sustainability progress

BSW Group, the UK’s largest integrated forestry and timber business, is enhancing its commitment to the UK timber industry, having made several investments throughout 2024 towards operations across the group, while making key strides in sustainable practices.

Owned by Binderholz GmbH, BSW Group is starting the new year in a strong position and has further investments and projects planned throughout 2025. All of this continues to cement the company as the market leader, while the wider industry continues to recover from the unprecedented challenges of the past few years. A snapshot of just some of the activity across BSW Group can be found below.

Melton investment and expansion

In December, BSW announced that it will be investing significantly in its BSW Timber Solutions and Bayram Timber sites in Melton, near Hull, where it will be expanding production operations and enhancing IT infrastructure. Following recent investments in a new automated crosscutting line, BSW will now be expanding into a third Melton site, where a new 100,000m3 capacity per annum treatment tank will be located. The investment into this additional site, along with improvements to IT operating platforms, will create a significantly enhanced offering for BSW’s existing and potential customer base.

Sustainable business practices

As a fully integrated business with a hand in every step of the forestry and timber production process, BSW is uniquely placed to create systems and efficiencies that make the most of every natural resource, piece of machinery and co-product.

A great example of this is Scott Pallets’ pressboard product, launched last year. Not only does it minimise waste by utilising sawdust and recycled wood chips, but the lightweight, stackable pallets are also more space-efficient and environmentally friendly than traditional pallets. They have seen great success, being used by major global brands such as Bosch and Siemens.

Scott Pallets’ partnership with Mowi, the world’s leading seafood company, offers another example. A new pallet production line was installed at BSW Timber’s Fort William site to produce pallets specifically for Mowi’s operations, using locally grown timber and significantly reducing transportation needs. This collaborative effort will save an estimated 43 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually – equivalent to 290 miles of transport per load of pallets.

80,000 Hours

That’s a remarkable amount of work hours for a single machine, the Norcar 600 owned by Erkki Rinne is taken well care of, it even has the original Diesel engine.
Kieran Anders Forestry

Kieran Anders is a forestry contractor working in the lake district. His work involves hand cutting and extracting timber using a skidder and tractor-trailer forwarder.
Promoting safety in the workplace

It is not possible to eliminate chain shot, but there are simple steps that can be taken to reduce the risk.
Glasfryn Fencing and Sawmill

Arwel takes great pride in the fact that the mill has no waste whatsoever, “the peelings are used for children’s playgrounds, gardens and for farm animals in barns in the winter and the sawdust has multiple uses in gardens and farms as well.
Keeping Timber Hauliers Safe

Timber hauliers need to encourage young blood in, and also look after the hauliers we have, we need make the sector a safe and positive place to work.

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The Pallet LOOP
The Pallet LOOP, BSW Group’s circular economy reuse scheme for pallets in the construction sector, has made impressive progress in its first year. With over 450,000 of the distinctive green pallets issued and financial incentives of up to £4 per pallet returned, the scheme has already paid out £150,000 to participants and saved businesses up to £800,000 in waste disposal costs.

Through The Pallet LOOP, companies can claim a share of a whopping £1.5 million+ and industry-leading companies like Saint Gobain and British Gypsum are making wide use of the scheme.

Forests With Impact PartnershipIn 2024, BSW Group announced its partnership with Forests With Impact, a social enterprise establishing commercial tree nurseries in prisons. These nurseries provide vital skills in horticulture, nursery management, and environmental conservation, while contributing to the UK’s biodiversity and tree-planting targets.

Maelor Forest Nurseries played a critical role in the initiative by helping to establish the first polytunnel (vital for creating the ideal growing conditions or young plants) at HMP Haverigg, which has already produced 250,000 saplings. The programme’s success has set the stage for large-scale expansion in the coming years.

Improving workplace certification and fleet investment
BSW Timber was awarded ISO 45001 and ISO 14001 certifications, joining its existing ISO 9001 standard. These certifications reflect BSW’s dedication to workplace safety, risk reduction, and environmental management. The recognition follows a Gold Award at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Health and Safety .

celebrating BSW’s commitment to creating safer working environments.

Tilhill Harvesting (previously known as Dick Brothers) has also seen huge investment in its fleet, now consisting of 84 machines, including harvesters, forwarders, excavators, traction winches and skyline winches. To ensure safety and efficiency, these machines are replenished every 5-6 years. Tilhill Harvesting will also roll out in-house training over 2025 to make sure this growing fleet has a continuous supply of expert operators.

Celebrating 50 Years at Fort William SawmillFinally, 2024 saw BSW Timber’s Fort William Sawmill celebrate 50 years of operations. Opened in 1974 by King Charles (then Prince Charles), the sawmill has grown to become a vital part of the local economy, employing over 200 people and processing 500,000 m3 of timber annually. Over the decades, BSW has invested in the site’s infrastructure, including the construction of a second sawmill, K2, in 2013, which doubled the facility’s capacity.

Alan Milne, Chief Financial Officer at BSW Group, said: “We are delighted to be starting the year in such a strong position. We have been able to make the right investments to strengthen our leading position and ensure a bright future for the group.

“We’re particularly pleased to have integrated a number of subsidiary businesses and welcomed others. We’ll continue to invest in initiatives that give us longevity and stability, while improving sustainability, driving innovation and creating value.”