Borders-based BSW Timber to invest in Corpach mill

Timber will be handled at a modern mill on BSW's new site in Lochaber

Planning permission has been submitted for the final phase of a Lochaber sawmill's move to and redevelopment of a new site.

Borders-based BSW Timber plans to invest £18m in its operations at Corpach, near Fort William.

The company is moving the Corpach sawmill business from a site it has occupied for 40 years to a former pulp mill site nearby.

The new modern sawmill will have a workforce of about 150 staff.

BSW, which has its head office in Earlston, in Berwickshire, is redeveloping the former pulp mill in three phases.

Corpach site manager Andy Rogers told BBC Radio Scotland that the location had room for further potential expansion in the future.

Some of the timber cut at the sawmill is used for fence posts.

The investment in the mill has been welcomed by Lochaber Liberal Democrat MP Charles Kennedy.

The £18m is part of a five-year £50m programme of investment across all BSW's sites.

In Scotland, the company also has mills at Boat of Garten, Petersmuir and Dalbeattie.

Its other sites are in Carlisle in England, Newbridge in Wales and Riga in Latvia.