200 jobs on way as timber home manufacturer launches Sheffield factory

IDMH is moving into a warehouse on Tinsley Industrial Estate which is four times the size of its existing site in Liverpool.

It makes homes in sections from timber in four days. It then transports whole rooms and floors to a building site where they are put together in eight hours.

The firm says it is already looking at ‘collaborative opportunities’ with the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre at nearby Waverley.

Sonny Burrows, chief operating officer at IDMH, said they intended to recruit staff, ‘from joiners to architects’.

He added: “Our factory in Liverpool has a team of 70 people currently in 50,000 sq ft whereas the new site is over 200,000 sq ft allowing us to expand and satisfy the demand for new contracts won, to act as a springboard to win more work, and to allow multiple production lines to extend our portfolio.

“We already have 35 people in Sheffield and expect that to rise to 80 in the next few months with 150-200 jobs in the next year.

“These will be a broad range of skilled and technical STEM jobs from joiners to architects and we will be actively recruiting in the area. We also want to encourage our new staff to use the fantastic public transport links to our site.

“The location is excellent. Logistically, the site is perfect in terms of our distribution needs nationwide, and we are already looking at good collaborative opportunities with the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre nearby. These are exciting times for us.”

IDMH was formed in November after Ideal Modules, trading as Ideal Modular Homes, in Liverpool went into administration owing £7.5m. IDMH bought the business and assets in a ‘pre-pack’ sale, which is organised before the original firm collapses.

Directors Andre Muller and Thomas White transferred to the new company in a deal which saved 76 jobs. Administrators said in December unsecured creditors could expect only 2.5p of every £1 owed.

In a report they state that at the start of the pandemic the company ‘had to cease operations for a number of months due to the national lockdown’ and took steps to reduce costs.

Joint agents Knight Frank and CPP secured the lease for IDMH.

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Thank you. Nancy Fielder, editor.