44 | Sector Focus: Panel Products
SUMMARY
■ Coillte took sole control of the SMARTPLY factory in 2002
■The facility has a design capacity of 500,000m3
per year
■ SMARTPLY AIRTIGHT and SMARTPLY SURE STEP DB were used in Citu’s development in Leeds
ADDING VALUE TO CONSTRUCTION
An innovative housing development in Leeds is using value-added OSB panels to further energy-efficiency and sustainability
The MEDITE SMARTPLY OSB factory in Ireland has been a hive of investment in recent years, with major technological overhauls helping to produce a bigger range of high quality products. The Waterford factory was originally built in 1996 as a joint venture between Louisiana Pacific (LP) and Irish state forestry company Coillte. Coillte took sole control in 2002 and expanded into MDF by acquiring the MEDITE MDF factory from Weyerhaeuser at Clonmel in 2006. The Waterford facility was not the first OSB plant to be established in the UK and Ireland – that right belongs to the plant in Inverness currently operated by West Fraser. Since 2016 the company has invested significant sums upgrading production, with an initial spend of €59m seeing new forming and finishing lines with a Siempelkamp continuous press. This helped in making the OSB panels smoother and flatter. A further €44m investment was invested to upgrade drying and screening, plus build a new biomass energy plant. The facility, which has a design capacity of 500,000m3
, will be approaching its
30th anniversary in 2026. The company’s innovative strategy and array of value- added products are seeing a growing list of applications.
Above: Finished low carbon timber houses by Citu in Leeds TTJ | November/December 2025 |
www.ttjonline.com
VALUE-ADDED APPLICATIONS A quick recap shows how SMARTPLY’s list of value-added products has grown. For high strength and performance, SMARTPLY ULTIMA is an OSB4 panel designed for the most demanding structural
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