A Northumberland business specialising in the global export of artificial plants and trees has set down roots in a new factory.
Treelocate sends its tropical trees to exotic locations all around the world, with its clients including Dubai International Airport, ANZ Bank in New Zealand, the BBC, Marks & Spencer, and Next.
The Belford business, which designs and manufactures all of its artificial plants and trees before exporting them abroad, needed a better site for its work, so tapped into support from the North of Tyne Combined Authority. The firm used almost £150,000 from the North of Tyne Rural Business Growth Fund to build a sizeable new factory, which marks a significant step up from the small barn the business was originally launched in.
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Brothers Mark and Jonny Nesbitt first set the firm in motion in 1995 after they bought a consignment of artificial trees from Asia, but it has now outgrown its four-acre site in Belford. Big contracts in the past have included a £275,000 order to supply 17 23ft high olive trees for the seven-star Four Seasons Hotel in Bahrain, and supplying man-made trees to Norway and to parts of the volcanic landscape of Iceland, where live trees struggle to grow.
Mark Nesbitt said: “We started the business by working with interior landscapers and supplied quite simple products for offices where live trees would have struggled to survive. Our customer base has expanded since then, and we need more room. A lot more. We’ve outgrown the premises here in Belford and have, for five years now, been looking for somewhere new.
“We identified a site which was a field for agricultural use and then spent three or four years getting planning permission for the new facility. We’re well into the construction now and hopefully will be moving in within the next months.
“What the Rural Business Growth Fund money has really allowed us to do is to complete the building more quickly and to the standard we wanted. We have some quite important clients coming in and our products are very showy. We wanted to show them off in the best way possible.”
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The North of Tyne Rural Business Growth Service worked with Treelocate on the grant application.
North of Tyne cabinet member for culture creative and rural, Northumberland County Council leader Coun Glen Sanderson, said: “Treelocate is one of the most innovative and distinctive businesses we have in the North of Tyne. The investment from the Rural Growth Fund will help them grow, help them expand their customer base, and help them create important new jobs where they are well-needed. I’m glad the new premises is being built in Belford, where they began.
"They’re an important employer there and continue to recruit locally. It’s good to see them going from strength to strength and really flying the flag for our region.”
The Rural Business Growth Fund has so far approved 27 grants over the course of the programme, awarding almost £2m to businesses.
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