News

B Smith Packaging (BSP) in Worcester has moved its 15 staff into temporary offices and will shortly sign a 12-month lease on a new warehouse following last week's devastating fire.

Managing director Andrew Smith, who was on a skiing holiday when the blaze started, said the firm had lost around a week's business as a result of the fire on 2 April.

"We're a long-established family firm set up by my father in the 1960s. We grew rapidly in the 1990s and were just entering a new phase with some nice paper cups business brewing, which thankfully hasn't been scuppered by the fire," he said.

BSP's turnover stands at £4m. It is expected to increase to around £6m over the next six months as a result of new business.

Smith said the firm had lost around £900,000 worth of stock, including carrier bags made from plastic, paper and material and plastic cups. The destroyed warehouse had space for 2,500 pallets.

"The forensic scientists on site said they thought the electric motors on the mobile racking caught fire to cause the blaze. We have put in a £2m-£3m insurance claim," he added.

BSP has around 1,000 'live' customers, with 150 affected by the fire.

The company built the warehouse on Stanier Road, Warndon, in 1995. Smith said the firm would build its own warehouse again in the future.

Around 100 firefighters from Worcester, Droitwich, Malvern, Evesham and Pershore tackled the blaze. The 12 staff on site were rapidly evacuated and no-one was injured.

Picture courtesy of Worcester News.