An office move and significant investment in its warehousing facilities is helping Filstorage, the Yorkshire racking supplier, celebrate 30 years in business.
Based near Howden, Filstorage was founded by current Managing Director Paul Taylor in 1993 and has grown into one of the UK’s leading warehouse design, fitout and racking specialists. To mark the anniversary, the business has moved offices from a former residential house in Eastrington to The Old Stables, a tastefully renovated office building in the same village.
The business has also invested £1.5m in a brand new warehouse development at Spaldington, designed to streamline its distribution processes.
Paul said the two moves would bring major efficiencies to every aspect of the business, making it a befitting way to celebrate Filstorage’s 30th anniversary. He said: “Filstorage started life selling plastic-coated, wire-framed baskets to builders’ merchants. That was our core market. But as we became more established, merchants started asking us for other storage solutions such as shop shelving, and then eventually racking, so we moved organically into these areas.
“We now offer a complete design and fitout service for warehouses, shops, showrooms and yards, as well as all types of racking and storage equipment including mezzanine floors. Unsurprisingly, as the stock we held got larger, we ran out of warehouse space so we needed to increase our own storage facilities.”
He continued: “Alongside this, staffing numbers increased as the business expanded, to the point we outgrew our offices and needed relocate into a larger, more modern space.”
Paul added that finding office space that was convenient for everyone in the business had been a challenge until The Old Stables – a former agricultural building converted to high standard modern offices – came available.
The new office is on the same street of the business’s former one, and benefits from on-site parking as well as an open-plan design and breakout rooms for collaborative working.
Finding quality warehousing in the area was an even bigger challenge, Paul said, which led him to decide to build a bespoke solution. These facilities replace Filstorage’s former warehousing – a series of old, ramshackle stone barns in Spaldington – with a brand new, 1,800sqft facility on the same site.
Paul explained: “The new facilities are world class compared to our former warehouse. It has been built with sustainability in mind with all the concrete from the foundations of the old buildings being crushed up and reused in the foundations of the new build. We also added a lot of skylights to let natural light in, meaning we will only need to use artificial lighting on winter mornings and afternoons.
“It has also improved health & safety for our warehouse staff. HGV access is much better and manoeuvrability inside the warehouse is much improved, which takes a lot of the risk out of manual handling. The new warehouse is a fantastic facility that makes our distribution processes far more efficient, while ensure our staff are as safe as we can make them.”
For more information, visit filstorage.com
The main image shows Filstorage’s warehouse team, from L-R: Cameron Clarkson, Daniels Delvers, Warehouse Manager Keith Slater, Wojciech Kuczynski, Chris Jotham and Sean Lill.
