In 2001, parent company East Durham Boards (EDB) order in their first truck load of HDF for processing.

The EDB Group purchase a 50% share in the business that ultimately becomes Boardtek Ltd.

EDB and Boardtek become FSC accredited and have continued to hold certification since.

The EDB Group acquire the remaining 50% share of Boardtek and outline plans to radically transform the business through a 10-year modernization program.

The brands Matchtek®, Flexitek® and Decortek® are launched.

Immediate investment is made in new saw capabilities at the facility in Featherstone.

Additional saw and CNC capabilities are installed alongside two folding machines to enhance the existing product offer further and provide customers with an even greater choice of panel specifications to work with.

Having previously leased the current Featherstone site, the EDB Group now purchase this outright and immediately invest in a new priming line.

As a response to customer demand, the priming line provides more option, particularly enhancing the Matchtek® product offer but also offering capabilities for other substrates.

The introduction of a new biomass boiler ensures greater energy efficiency, generating heat for the factory and new priming line by burning wood waste that otherwise would have been sent to landfill.

Investment is made with a new purpose-built warehouse.

At the same time, a new dust extraction system is installed, replacing two older entities and amalgamating to one state-of-the-art system.

As part of the planned machinery upgrade program, the Group install both a new CNC machine and multi-rip automatic profiling saw.

Alongside this, EDB and Boardtek achieve ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification, demonstrating that Quality, Environmental Responsibility and Customer Satisfaction remain at the forefront of the business.

Solar panels are installed as part of the overriding aim to reduce our carbon footprint and make the plant even more self-sufficient.

Investment is made in automatic feed machinery.