Aycliffe Today Business Aycliffe Today Business Issue 38 | Page 27

The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 27
Stiller Warehousing and Distribution managing
director Matthew Stiller (left) and his father Paul
with warehouse manager Gary Auston (right)
inside the firm’s newly-refurbished facility.
More investment for Stiller as logistics
firm creates new 50,000 sq ft warehouse
By Martin Walker
A
Stiller Warehousing and Distribution has invested further
in the company to create another huge new warehouse.
fter opening a state-of-the-art, £2m
freight distribution centre and office
block at its 22-acre premises on
Aycliffe Business Park last year,
Stiller is now converting its former logistics
centre into warehousing to meet rising
demand.
The 50,000 sq-ft warehouse has been
fully refurbished and, when completed, will
accommodate up to 6,000 pallets.
High-performance resin screed, recladding
and LED lighting has brought the old building
up to 21st Century standards as Stiller
continues its hefty investment programme.
The firm spent £1.1m in a brand new
40,000 sq-ft warehouse building in 2015, and
in 2017 added another 40,000 sq-ft extension
to it, with both units creating space for more
than 10,000 pallets of storage.
And just months after spending £1.7m on
a fleet of new trucks, this latest development
will increase Stiller’s capacity further still,
and takes the firm’s total investment in
property, facilities and people to £11m in the
last four years.
Local contractors are being used in the
fit-out of the latest new facility, with Bishop
Auckland firm G Smith Electrical supplying
the lighting, and they have been helped by a
grant provided by Durham County Council’s
BEEP energy programme.
Local firm Scott and Scott is providing the
cladding and racking, while Newton Aycliffe -
based Kolorspray has also been drafted in to
repaint internal areas.
Managing director Matthew Stiller said:
“It’s a full top-to-tail refurbishment to bring
the building up to the highest spec possible,
and which is very much part of our long-term
investment plan and growth strategy.
“We’ve seen an unprecedented rise in the
demand for storage space over the last year
and we’re expanding to meet that demand.
“The new warehouse is almost
completed, and we’re already starting to fill
the space up, which is very encouraging.”
At the end of 2018, Stiller revealed it had
invested £1.7m in new vehicles to keep their
truckers motoring millions of miles around
the country, refreshing its fleet of 45 trucks
with 20 new Mercedes Across tractor units.
Earlier the firm completed work on a £2m
40,000 sq-ft palletised distribution centre,
which improved its vehicle loading times.
Stiller – which was named Company of the
Year at Aycliffe Business Park’s Make Your
Mark awards in May – has seen sales rise
by more than 20% to £14.8m, while staff
numbers have jumped from 149 to 174 in the
last 12 months.
Formed in 1954, Stiller provides cost-
effective warehousing and distribution
services to businesses in the North-East
region as well as commercial property
lettings and is also a member and major
shareholder in Palletline, a national co-
operative network of 70 companies
specialising in overnight palletised freight
distribution.
Stiller’s site stores goods and parts for
well-known national brands as well as local
businesses including Gestamp Tallent and
3M.
More about Stiller can be found at
www.stiller.co.uk