NEWS EXTRA
SHIP-SHAPE AND BRISTOL FASHION The Etex group’s largest investment in its manufacturing capability is now up
and running in the shape of Siniat’s new plasterboard factory in Bristol. Fiona Russell Horne went to have a look around.
WHAT IS THE size of several football pitches, took nearly three years from start to finish, cost £170m, and has an element that’s so long the curvature of the earth had to be taken into consideration during the build? Etex’s new factory, set in a former coal depot at the edge of Bristol docks will produce boards under the group’s Siniat brand. It started producing plasterboard in August 2024, and was officially opened on March 12th. At £170m, it represents the biggest investment the Etex group has made globally in its manufacturing facility, and has been some years in the making. Originally signed off in 2019, the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic meant it was put on pause, before getting the go-ahead in 2022. The plasterboard line is the longest in Europe at 400m, and this is why the planning and installatin teams needed to think about the way the Earth curves. As a result of the significant investment, 98.5% of everything that Siniat sells in the UK will be made in the UK. Not only does the new plant double production capacity for plasterboard in Bristol, allowing the company to meet current market demand,
but there is scope to scale up production when the construction market improves.
Etex UK and Ireland country manager John Sinfield told BMJ that the investment shows the group’s real commitment to, and confidence in, the UK. “In the last 10 years, our UK business has really grown, but it has been built on imported products from elsewhere in the group, most notably from
Spain, which of course has a transport cost and sustainability implications. Plus, when the Spanish economy picks up, those Spanish plants are going to want to service their own markets first rather than ours.
“When we looked at the long- term trajectory of the business, it was clear that we needed the investment here. It made sense to do it here at Bristol, we had the space, we had the existing
factory next door, and we had a workforce and a local leadership team that could manage the project in tandem with running the existing factory. Now that it is, the days of allocation of our plasterboard should be long gone. ”
Sinfield joined the Etex Group in May 2023 when the plant was still being commissioned. He added: “I saw the new plasterboard line when it arrived,
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www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net April 2025
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