Wren could take over nappy plant

DISCUSSIONS are said to be at an advanced stage over Wren Kitchens and Bedrooms taking over the former Kimberley-Clark factory in Barton and bringing 500 new jobs to the area.

The Telegraph understands negotiations over the sale of the 20-year-old site off the town's Falkland Way could be completed within the next few weeks and the new owners could move in as early as September.

If the talks are successful, bosses at Wren are believed to favour making Barton the new headquarters of their booming kitchen and bathroom retail business.

During the first six months of operation, 100 new jobs could be created as part of a proposed £20 million-plus investment by Wren - a record spend for the company.

Both Wren and Kimberley-Clark, along with North Lincolnshire Council, are said to be working towards an August deadline when the American owners vacate the former nappy-making plant.

If a deal is not reached there are plans to demolish the factory – which ceased production in March with the loss of 570 full-time and temporary jobs – and convert it back into a green-field site. Wren operations director Armando Sanchez would neither conform nor deny that Barton was the favoured location to become the company's new headquarters.

But Mr Sanchez said: "The company is committed to its existing factories and is currently investing £5 million on additional production lines at the Scunthorpe site.

"But it is clear that even with the increased capacity, additional production facilities will be required to cope with the demand created by new retail sites and an expanding range of products.

"We are therefore in discussions with a number of parties regarding possible sites for future expansion.

"We cannot confirm or deny whether Kimberly-Clark's site at Barton is one of those sites.

"We anticipate that wherever that site is ultimately located, a further 500 skilled jobs will be created over the next five years.

"Aside from manufacturing and distribution there will be opportunities in product design, information technology marketing and other central functions."

Two years ago, Wren took a £20-million gamble on moving into the former B&Q warehouse at Scunthorpe's Foxhills Industrial Estate.

At that time the firm employed a skeleton staff of 25.

Two years later the number of employees on the Foxhills site has increased ten-fold to 250 and this figure will rise following the installation of more production lines at a cost of £5 million.

Finance director Mark Pullan confirmed: "The number will continue to grow with the new production lines and the increase in turn-over as the business continues to expand".