To assist with the expansion, the company has made 11 internal promotions. Anna McAleer, currently head of specification (national) & commercial sales (Ireland), and Lee Blackburn, head of commercial sales (GB), will be promoted to joint heads of strategic growth in Britain.

“We value our people and always look to reward their hard work and dedication by promoting internally,” added Laura McGlade, head of people at Tobermore. “We do everything we can to equip our teams with the right resources, expertise, skills and training to empower them to progress and develop their careers with us.”

The company will make an £8m investment in the construction of a new 3,000m2 factory at its manufacturing site in Tobermore, Northern Ireland. This will be able to produce over 1,000,000m2 paving blocks a year, increasing the company’s block paving production by 25%. The facility will be equipped with industry-leading manufacturing equipment that will deliver high quality paving products at speed.

“Our customers are facing an incredible challenge to build more homes and commercial projects, including public realm and healthcare, and to do this quickly to very high standards,” explained Kathryn. “This investment demonstrates our commitment to supporting our customers. Increasing our production capacity means we will be able to not just meet but exceed anticipated demand, so they can keep on building.”

The company will also invest £4m in new jobs across Great Britain and Ireland.

“We know the industry is preparing for considerable growth in the construction of new homes and infrastructure, and this investment shows that Tobermore is ready to support our customers across the supply chain as they design, build, and supply the materials for their projects,” explained Kathryn Robinson, head of sales at Tobermore.

“These plans will ensure that we have the right people, facilities, and equipment in place to produce the products they need at scale, so we can meet both the immediate need and an anticipated upsurge in customer demand.”

To address immediate capacity requirements driven by an increase in customer demand, Tobermore has also introduced additional night shifts in its manufacturing facilities.

“By extending our design, technical, specification, and account teams, we will be able to provide groundworkers with the dedicated support they need for every stage of the build process,” added Kathryn. “We can provide everything from a complete design and visualisation service to the technical information needed to deliver everything from permeable paving to structural walls on site.”

This is just the latest investment in a series of expansion projects by Tobermore to support its ambitious growth plans. The company opened its £10m production facility in 2020, expanding block paving production capacity, and its £8.6m manufacturing unit in 2022 to increase production of paving slabs. These two investments have enabled the company to scale up overall block paving production by approximately 25% and slab production by approximately 40% compared to this time five years ago.