A COFFIN maker plans to offset its carbon footprint by planting its own forests around the world after landing £150,000 to grow the business and boost its green credentials.
Washington-based JC Atkinson has secured the funding from Newcastle- based NEL Fund Managers as part of the Finance for Business North East Fund initiative, which it will use to plant hundreds of trees around the world over the next three years.
The family business, which supplies around 10% of the coffins used across the UK every year, is also using the money to develop its website, www.coffins.co.uk, as well as provide additional services to help people provide a greener send off for their loved ones.
The company has managed to more than double its sales over the last five years to £5.5m and said that it expected this to rise to around £6.5m over the next three years as a result of the growing popularity of environmentally friendly services.
Despite the recession, the company has managed to add £1m to its turnover since the start of 2009, and has increased its workforce by almost a quarter to 95 people over the same period.
It manufactures more than 60,000 coffins each year, distributing them to clients right across the UK , and is the only manufacturer in the country to produce virtually all of its coffins and caskets from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified timber.
Other green initiatives have included installation of biomass heaters at the manufacturing plant on the Wear Industrial Estate, as well as the decision by managing director Julian Atkinson to plant 800 sweet chestnut saplings at his home farm in Morpeth, which he plans to use as a sustainable source of fuel when they mature in five years’ time.
Mr Atkinson said: “We have a number of plans in the pipeline which will allow people to plan even greener funerals as we believe this is the way that the industry is going."
“This investment will allow us to develop a number of sides to our business, particularly our website and tree planting programme.”
The firm, which imports most of its wood from overseas, is now looking to develop its wholesale business as well as its green services and expects to create a number of administrative and sales jobs as a result by the end of the year.
The company specialises in bespoke coffins, which can come in the form of picture coffins, often depicting a favourite football team, and even wool coffins, which are derived from sheep in North Yorkshire and made by a mill in Leeds.
It was founded in 1956 by Mr Atkinson’s grandfather John Clifford Atkinson in Penshaw, Sunderland, after he was bypassed for promotion while working at a joinery firm.
Jane Siddle, investment executive at NEL Fund Managers, said: “JC Atkinson & Son is an excellent example of how successive rounds of investment capital can be used over a long period to help a business achieve different objectives at different stages of its development.”
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