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“ In the UK, people have traditionally opted for African hardwoods, which aren’ t too sustainable. At the other end of the market, there’ s cheaper mats that don’ t last at all, so we found a compromise,” Andrew says.“ Eucalyptus falls in the middle ground, better than oak and beech but not quite as strong as the African hardwoods, but for 80 per cent of jobs where these hardwoods would’ ve been used, the eucalyptus matting will be sufficient for customers’ needs while offering a more sustainable, cost-effective alternative.”
This same forward-thinking approach is also evident in Marwood’ s investment in its own facilities and equipment. Alongside developing new products, the company has continued to modernise its operations, replacing ageing machinery and moving towards more efficient technologies to increase capacity and meet growing demand.
“ We’ ve refreshed our entire forklift fleet to electric forklifts and even replaced some of our earlier electric ones,” Andrew enthuses.“ The largest single investment that we’ ve made in the last year is within our Europalite factory. We’ ve replaced one of the big rotary moulding machines with a new Italian machine to produce our plastic barriers. The machine can produce the two-metre barriers, for which there’ s a large demand at the moment, thereby giving us much greater capacity in bringing that product to market.”
Marwood’ s ongoing investment programme demonstrates a clear commitment to strengthening the business for the long term, while ensuring it remains responsive to the changing needs of its customers and the wider construction industry. From the continued modernisation of its hire fleet and manufacturing facilities to the development of new products such as eucalyptus timber matting, the group is using its independence and in-house expertise to drive practical innovation. The company’ s investment in electric forklifts and new rotary
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