JJI-Joists : History

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Timber technology delivers successful rebuild of extra care apartments in Greater Manchester

In an exciting development by Six Town Housing in partnership with Bury Council, a care facility, Red Bank House, Radcliffe, is being rebuilt in a fifteen-month, £6m project.

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History

Spanning well over a century, James Jones & Sons has a rich and colourful history.  Here are some of the milestones along the way.

1838	The first Tom Jones begins selling timber in Camelon, near Larbert
1840s	Scottish railway boom – a major source of income for timber firms
1872	Tom Bruce Jones born – later awarded an OBE for services to industry
1874	Tom Jones’ timber yard moves to larger site close to Larbert station
1900s	The company supplies the oak keel for Captain Scott’s legendary Antarctic exploration vessel Discovery
1905	James Jones & Sons becomes a limited company
1910	James Jones begins creosoting railway sleepers,telegraph and transmission poles – the first value adding process
1914	Operating at least 11 mills and employing c 400 men, James Jones is the leading British timber merchant in the country
1919	Forestry Act creates the Forestry Commission
1921	Company displays a house built entirely from timber at Glasgow’s Ideal Homes Exhibition. The house could be erected in just 11 days.
1930s	Tractors begin to replace traditional ‘horse power’ in timber harvesting operations
1948	James Jones & Sons’ turnover breaks through the £million barrier
1950	Celebrating their Chairman’s 50th anniversary with the firm, 2,000 people from James Jones & Sons sail down the Clyde
1950s	The company opens its Kirriemuir sawmill. Woodcutters start to adopt chain saws and the advent of forklift trucks.
1953	The great windblow brings down millions of trees all over north-eastern Scotland
1954	James Jones’ new head offices are completed in Larbert. This building remains the company’s head office.
1955	The company still operates over 30 sawmills and employs nearly 1,200 men
1971	Bruce Jones becomes Managing Director
1979	Tom A Bruce-Jones, son of the Chairman, appointed as joint Managing Director
1984	Dumfries sawmill opens – the company’s first high-volume sawmill dedicated to the production of strength graded construction timber
1989	The company acquires Kinnoir and Mosstodloch sawmills
1990s	James Jones becomes the first company to appoint full-time health & safety and environmental managers
1991	A new replacement sawmill is commissioned at Aboyne
1996	Tom Bruce-Jones becomes the first member of the UK timber processing industry to be appointed as a Forestry Commissioner
1997	The company achieves record sales of more than £44 million
1999	Acquisition of Unit Pallets
1999	James Jones establishes Timber Systems Division and the first UK-based I-Joist manufacturing facility
2000	Lockerbie site acquired and Lockerbie 1 sawmill built
2006	Lockerbie 2 built and commissioned
2009	Lockerbie 3 completed, creating the Lockerbie ‘super-site’ – one of the largest, most advanced wood processing facilities in Europe.
2011	The company acquires Larch Ltd a well established Pallet manufacturer