You don’t carry on trading for 137 years unless you’re doing something right - and there cannot be that many businesses that have still been run by the same name during that time!

At Cordiners Sawmills in Banchory, around 20 miles west of Aberdeen, you can meet the father and son who share the same name as the founder who started the business in the 1870s.

Today their business ethos is to build on the successful past of their family - and both James Snr and Jnr are
intent on maintaining their renowned service to regular customers whilst shaping their business for the years
to come.

‘Focussing on the customers requirements is our endeavour,’ is their mission statement and both father and son are clearly devoted to that aim.

‘We are still, and always have been, a very hands-on family-run company, with a very hands-on management style. Our continued expansion is a mark of just how committed we are to the industry we serve. We have recently put in a new line to produce round posts in response to customer demand and this month will see the installation of another new machine for automated crosscutting.`

Further facilities such as two pressure treatment plants for both brown and green timber preservation are on site. Both plants use the new generation of Osmose chemicals which meet todays European standards. The end product bears testimony to the care and attention put into producing a first class product.

The company currently employs a staff of around 47 many of whom have been with Cordiners for a long period of time. James Jnr places great emphasis on training and health and safety to ensure the highest possible standards are maintained. James Snr also pointed out that their high quality end product required high quality logs: ‘We source all of our timber from the slow grown forests of North East Scotland.

It is excellent quality softwood, mainly Scots Pine and Larch. In keeping with today’s conservation conscious society all of the timber that is processed comes from local forests with small transport distances and of course comes only from forests felled in accordance with UK regulations.The logs are strictly checked on arrival and only logs which meet our high standards are accepted.` James Jnr tells of the variety of timber products which are produced through Cordiners Sawmills:

‘We produce packaging timber for pallets and crates in the form of pallet boards and blockwood. We also produce fencing timber for both the agricultural and domestic markets. Round and square posts are both now produced here as a result of new machinery acquired in recent times.’

It’s all a far cry from the days when the first James Cordiner set up in business making wooden boats on the east coast of Scotland at Cove, beside Aberdeen or when logs were floated down the River Dee to Banchory for processing. ‘I am sure our forefathers had just the same eye for quality as we have. Quality is everything to us. That’s why we are seeing James Snr James Jnr expansion in our business. Our customers know that when they come to us we will do everything we can to ensure that the product they want is the product they get. We count it a privilege to be able to serve this industry and we want it to remain that way for many years to come.’ says James Jnr.

For more information contact Cordiners Sawmills Ltd
North Deeside Road, Banchory, Aberdeenshire AB31 5PY
Tel 01330 823366 Fax 01330 825018
info@cordiners-sawmills.com / www.cordiners-sawmills.com