£4m plans revealed for Wolverhampton Carvers business
New £4 million plans for the long-term future of Wolverhampton's fire-ravaged Carvers Building Supplies, which will see a 3,000sqft warehouse built, have been unveiled.
The firm wants to create a "builders' village" following the devastating blaze almost a year ago. Plans have been submitted for a new two-storey replacement showroom, office and warehouse building and it is hoped that work will be under way by July. Work on the first phase of the rebuild, which includes storage bays, has already started.
The complex will allow different trades such as tile and paint specialists to rent space and promote their services.
Managing director Henry Carver said the majority of the expense of rebuilding the company's headquarters would be covered by insurers, but he had also put in more money of his own to improve the business's offer to customers.
He said: "Our overall budget is in the region of £4m. When the fire happened it provided an opportunity, desperate as it was, to think about how we could do things differently. Our new building will have different franchises on offer.
We certainly hope however that having to rebuild after something like that is a once in a lifetime experience.
"Psychologically, it's been a very tough 12 months for us."
The family's business, which has been in the city since 1896, went up in flames on February 29 2012. The fire started in a wood-burning stove in its warehouse and destroyed vast quantities of stock.
Billowing smoke could be seen from miles around.
Many of the company's 200 staff worked from its other premises, a timber merchants in Neachells Lane, Wednesfield, following the blaze as a temporary solution. Work has begun on the first phase of the project, which includes a drive-through building supplies warehouse.
