A KITCHEN manufacturer is to create 500 jobs in Barton-upon-Humber after taking over the former Kimberly-Clark nappies factory.

But Wren Kitchens and Bedrooms insists only a small number of staff will be relocated from the Howden factory store and more jobs will eventually be created at the East Yorkshire site.

The company confirmed yesterday it has completed the acquisition of the former Kimberly-Clark site. Worth £50m, it represents the largest single investment the company has made in the region.

The 180-acre site will be transformed into Wren's new head office, complete with a new centralised customer service department alongside warehousing, logistics and manufacturing facilities. Five hundred new jobs will be created over the next five years with the first 100 vacancies expected to be filled within six months.

Brigg and Goole MP Andrew Percy believes the news will be a big boost for East Yorkshire.  He said: "This is great news for the region. Wren is a local business which had options to go to other parts of the country. It is great for both sides of the Humber, particularly now the Humber Bridge tolls have been reduced.  It means the area is much more accessible for people in East Yorkshire who want to work on the south side.  Wren approached the MPs a few weeks back, asking for support from the local authorities in terms of business rates and employment and skills support.

Mr Percy has also moved to quash rumours that staff at Howden would have to relocate.  He said: "There has been talk of staff having to move from Howden but we need to be very clear, these will be almost entirely new jobs at Barton."

Wren has also confirmed the Howden site, which has 330 staff, will remain.

Wren director Mark Pullan said: "The Howden factory is our centre for the manufacture and assembly of kitchen cabinets. While inevitably some jobs will be relocated in terms of head office functions to Barton, the vast majority of the office jobs created at Barton will come from the creation of a new central customer services department, as this function was previously administered at store level.”

"We anticipate that additional staff will be required at both the Howden and Scunthorpe manufacturing centres as the number of stores increases. We currently have 38 retail stores and we have plans to open a further 60 such stores. At a time when most of our competitors have moved their manufacturing overseas, Wren has remained committed to manufacturing in the UK. We have recently invested £5m in our Scunthorpe plant, but the Barton site is needed to meet the demands of a growing network of Wren stores and an expanding product portfolio."

Wren currently employs 1,200 people in the UK, 650 of which are in the Humber region.

The Wren Standard

The Wren Standard extends to every corner of the design, as in addition to great quality and great prices, additional touches that are considered extra elsewhere, include:

Soft-closing drawers, using an effortless ultra-smooth system found on many expensive German cabinets. Extra-deep drawers, which at 500mm in depth gives some 10% more room than you would normally get with most other UK manufacturers. Also as standard are extra-deep wall cabinets to ensure that all bulky items such as large dinner plates will fit comfortably, concealed wall hanging brackets that are easy to adjust, and much more aesthetically pleasing than cheaper models.

Furthermore, a convenient service gap to the rear of all the cabinets, means that customers can easily work around existing pipework and hide unsightly wiring from appliances, thereby aiding installation and reducing fitting costs.

That is what makes Wren Kitchens different.

Wrens stores are located in Aberdeen, Aintree for Kitchens in Liverpool, Basildon, Beckton, Bolton, Bristol, Cardiff, Kitchens Chester which also serves Kitchens in Warrington and Kitchens in Manchester, Darlington, Doncaster, Dundee, Hamilton, Hayes, Howden East Yorkshire. Huddersfield, Hull East Yorkshire, Lincoln, Norwich, Poole Dorset, Reading, Rotherham, Scunthorpe, Sheffield, Southampton, Stevenage, and Stirlingshire