A LONG standing Bradford company has revealed its plans to move to a much larger base in the city.

Thorite, a distributor of compressed air and pneumatic products, will be moving to a large unit on Hillam Road, off Canal Road, into a building most recently used by Melrose Textiles.

The company dates back to 1850 when it was known as Mill Furnishers. It has been based at Thorite House on Laisterdyke since 1971.

But the business, which last year had a turnover of almost £19million, says it has now outgrown this site, and hope to begin work on its new home, which is more than double the size, late this year.

The company employs 128 people, 60 of which are based form the Bradford head office.

The existing base has 18,000 sq ft of space spread out over four floors - and the company says this is “not suitable for a modern distribution business anymore.” The new base will be over double the size - 40,000 sq ft with better parking than the Laisterdyke site.

Distribution company plans move to Bradford - creating 60 jobs

A planning application for a number of works to the site, including re-cladding, the creation of new entrances, an external landscaped area for staff amenity purposes and adjustments to parking layout, have been submitted to Bradford Council.

But this is just part of the transformation of the building - with new office space being created inside. The company said there would also be “extensive space for our sales office and trade counter, training suite, national distribution centre, service department and system build division. The site will have new energy efficient lighting and heating throughout.”

The company has contracted local architects Rance Booth Smith help them develop the site.

As well as transferring its staff from Thorite House, the company is also planning on consolidating a number of jobs. Eight staff will be moving back to Bradford from Huddersfield, where the systems build / manufacturing department had to move due to a lack of space in Thorite House.

Stephen Wright, Managing Director of Thorite, said: “We decided it was time to look at new properties, and found this site on Hillam Road. This site is ideal for our needs.

“It is a real good news story for us. We hope we’ll be in there by the end of the year.

“It has a lot of parking space, which is something unusual in Bradford. There isn’t a lot of industrial property in Bradford ready to move into.”

The company had looked at the proposed Enterprise Zones at Parry Lane and Gain Lane, but those sites will not be completed for some time.

Mr Wright said overall, including the purchase of the site and the works to the building, the company was spending around £3.6 million on the move.

A decision on the planning application is expected late this month.