New processing plant for Whanganui timber processors rises from the ashes

Eastown Timber Processors Ltd managing director James Richardson inside the frame of their new timber processing building. Photo / Bevan Conley

Christmas will indeed be a time of cheer for Whanganui’s Eastown Timber Processors as the company’s new processing plant is expected to be open and fully operational by the holiday season.

The building housing the previous plant was destroyed by fire in March last year as well as its paint liner and planers.

At the height of the fire, seven fire engines from as far as Palmerston North, Bulls and New Plymouth were brought in to control the blaze.

An investigation into the fire found it was likely caused by an electrical fault in the paint line area of the site.

Timber Processors managing director James Richardson said the construction of the new building had been progressing well, with its structure completed and cladding being put onto the frame this week.

After the cladding is complete they’ll be able to move on to fitting out the building’s interior.

Once complete it will be used for timber processing, with a treatment plant and high-speed planers to be placed inside the building.

He said the build had started around February this year, but things had progressed slower than the team had hoped.

“Everything takes longer than you want it to, but we are getting there.

“By the time you get consent and you get this and you get that, it all takes time,” Richardson said.

Part of this was down to the complexity of the building’s compliance process.

“For example, the concrete slab has to be made to a certain specification.

“There’s a lot of work at every single step of the project making sure that [it’s] compliant to the new standards which are pretty complex,” he said.

Once it was done Richardson said the building would be much easier to move around than the previous one.

The previous building had a sawtooth roof design, which required a lot of poles to be installed from the roof to the floor for reinforcement, while the new design was an open-span roof, requiring no extra reinforcement.

This would free up a lot of extra floor space and make their work more efficient, as timber was a space-hungry industry.

“Our packets are up to 6m long, so trying to move a 6m packet through a shed that’s full of poles is quite a pain,” he said.

“The open span is actually quite a lot more efficient and we can use the footprint better and then we’ve got new equipment to work with as well, new forklift, new planners, extraction units, so it’s a bit of a different beast.”

Richardson said the building is expected to be finished and fully up and running by Christmas this year at the very latest and the team was excited to have it compliant and operational.

Eastown Buildlink, its retail business, had remained open throughout the cleanup from the fire, planning and rebuilding of the building, so he said it had been a busy time for the company.

“We have managed to keep all the boys and keep them running, but certainly can’t wait to get back to full capacity again.”

Finn Williams is a multimedia journalist for the Whanganui Chronicle. He joined the Chronicle in early 2022 and regularly covers stories about business, events and emergencies. He also enjoys writing opinion columns on whatever interests him.