£300 million-turnover National Timber Group boosts career paths of Scottish workers

The £300 million-turnover National Timber Group has launched a management development programme to help boost career paths within the group’s companies north of the Border.

The first cohort of ten aspiring managers come from all over Scotland, working in operations, internal and external sales, as assistant branch managers, and in business support roles.

Over the next six months the programme will provide both professional and personal development through a mixture of in-house workshops and bespoke residential development days created with James Learning and Development.

Time will also be spent on the road with National Timber Group’s business support team shadowing their diverse activities in branches.

In November 2017, Cairngorm Capital acquired Scottish timber merchant Thornbridge. Three further investments have created a major industry player. On completion of the fourth acquisition, Arnold Laver in November 2018, a new umbrella brand for the business was created, National Timber Group (NTG).

The group has a combined turnover in excess of £300m, some 1,300 employees and 54 processing and distribution sites from the north of Scotland to London and the south west of England.

Irene Robertson, business development director, NTG Scotland, said: “Investing in the development of our people is key to everything we do at NTG. Our selection process for the programme was face to face so we could properly gauge the level of interest and desire to manage people in our organisation.

“The senior management team is involved in the workshops. We’ll be sharing knowledge on key topics from pricing to stock management, and supporting some personal development on personal brand, communication skills and change management. In other words, all the things we wish we had been told about when we started our careers.

First cohort of aspiring managers taking part in the National Timber Group Scotland management development programme.

“It’s going to be exciting to see our colleagues flourish over the next six months.”

Nick Ratcliffe, managing director, NTG Scotland, added: “Developing our people to suit our business ensures we have a robust succession plan which will enable NTG to continue going from strength to strength.

“The programme is a fast-track to understanding the business inside out, which is invaluable for becoming an NTG manager.”

The group has extensive warehousing, processing and distribution capabilities.