Witney timber systems company makes PPE donation

Published by

Nicky Godding

Stewart Milne Timber Systems (SMTS) has donated vital personal protective equipment (PPE) from its Witney-based factory to help NHS heroes battling the coronavirus pandemic on the frontline in Oxfordshire.

The UK’s leading offsite timber frame manufacturer pulled together all of its PPE stocks and delivered the clinical-standard equipment including masks, goggles and gloves to the South-Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust to help protect staff treating patients with coronavirus.

Healthcare professionals throughout the UK are facing a critical shortage of masks, gowns, gloves, goggles and other PPE as the spread of coronavirus continues across the country.

Frank O’Reilly, Factory Manager at Stewart Milne Timber Systems, said: “It is a privilege to be able to donate PPE equipment to our hard-working NHS staff, their need is far greater than ours at present as they continue to battle the coronavirus pandemic. We hope our contribution can go some way to helping protect those working every day on the frontline to save lives.”

Samantha Collier, Thames Valley Air Ambulance’s Corporate Partnership Manager, said: “Thank you to everyone at Stewart Milne Timber Systems for their vital donation of personal protective equipment. Their generous donation, alongside the others we have received, has made the difference in allowing our paramedics and doctors to continue their work, treating some of the most critically ill and injured patients in our community, during the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s so inspiring that businesses have positively responded to our PPE appeal and we hope that this will be the start of an ongoing partnership with our new friends at Stewart Milne Timber Systems.”

The donation follows Stewart Milne's winning the Housebuilder HBF 2020 Product Award for ‘Best Building Fabric Product’ with its Sigma II Build System.

The Sigma System is a closed panel, fabric first product that delivers an affordable, reliable, simple to install Build System, promoting a ‘Fit and Forget’ approach to the building’s fabric. The system considers whole life cycle costing, embodied carbon, technical compliance and longevity over a 60-year design life, underpinned by BBA Product Approval and Lloyds BOPAS Accreditation.

The company says that Sigma II is growing in demand, and accounts for 1.5 per cent of market potential, supplying around 1,000 homes annually. Its factories have capacity to manufacture 3,000 units per annum; investment will increase capacity to 10,000 homes in 5 years.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.