Unthank Estate Firewood Yard

Unthank Estate, based in Northumberland, was awarded over £17,000 through the RDPE bioeNErgy support programme to help transform its business into a large scale firewood processing yard with the ultimate aim of increasing firewood supply in the local area.  The grant was used to purchase various items of firewood processing and delivery equipment.

This grant is for the first phase of a large, long term, investment into woodfuel supply chains in the North East. 

Unthank Estate includes 600 acres of mixed woodland, which are managed by estate staff.  The timber is extracted and transported to the firewood yard.  This timber is sold in the round over the weigh bridge to partner firewood businesses.  The businesses then use the processing and storage facilities at the yard, and take the responsibility for marketing and sales. 

This business models allows the estate to focus on their woodland management and extraction strengths, and passes the responsibility of processing and sales on to another business which excels in this area.

This investment has supported both the estate business, by making it viable to maintain woodland management, and the small businesses who are able to use the top quality processing facilities now available, without the initial capital outlay.