Timber business winding down in Wolverhampton with 61 losing jobs

The timber frame and truss firm appointed administrators Paul Meadows and Matt Cowlishaw, of Teneo Financial Advisory, who secured a pre-pack deal for Robinson Manufacturing’s Ebbw Vale site.

Solihull-based truss manufacturer Wyckham Blackwell has purchased the business and its assets.

Operations in Wellingborough and Essex will be wound down with another 79 staff being made redundant there.

The site at Sutherland Avenue, Wolverhampton, has not yet completely closed.

Only 11 members of staff have been retained to assist administrators close down the businesses.

Stephen Thompstone, chief executive of Solihull-based Wyckham Blackwell Group said: “We are looking forward to working with our new team at Ebbw Vale, going forward the branch will trade as Crendon Timber Frame.

“We will invest in improving their premises, machinery, transport and processes as we integrate with our established Crendon Timber Engineering branch network.”

Lead administrator, Paul Meadows, said: “I’m pleased we have been able to sell this part of RML’s business, and safeguard 25 employees.

"Unfortunately, in the limited time we had available to run an accelerated sale process, we were unable to secure a more positive outcome for the rest of RML’s operations in Wolverhampton, Wellingborough and Essex,

and sadly have made 140 redundancies with 11 people currently retained to assist us as we wind down the operations.

"Our specialist employee team are supporting all the affected employees with making claims on the government protection fund, the Redundancy Payments Service.”

Robinson started out as Hilton Roof Trusses in 1986 in Wellingborough and was run by the late Tim Robinson. It became Robinson manufacturing 11 years later. The Welsh factory opened in 2017.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visited the Wolverhampton factory in July 2021 when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer to find out at first hand how the Government’s Kickstart programme was working for businesses

Robinson Manufacturing had adopted the Kickstart scheme to identify some potential talent who might stay with the business as it grew.

In a private meeting with chief executive Simon Kidney he heard how the company had taken on 30 people.