Council helps innovative Wirral company’s expansion plans
A specialist structural timber company based in Wirral and working throughout the UK has acquired three industrial units that were owned by Wirral Council to help them expand.
SticX Limited is a specialist timber frame company whose work spans residential developments, social housing, education, student accommodation, and self-build projects. They offer a range of timber framing solutions across the UK in the Modern Methods of Construction sector, providing various systems, including open panel frames, pre-insulated panels, metal-web joists and roof trusses among others.
Based at Kelvinside in Seacombe they approached the council in late 2023 about acquiring vacant council owned warehouses, immediately adjacent to their existing facility.
Since then the council has been working with SticX Limited, which is based in the Wirral Freeport area, to see what help can be given with their growth and expansion plans.
The company currently employs 48 people and plans to increase this to 76 employees by 2031 as a direct result of their expansion, and to at least double production capacity.
Leader of Wirral Council, Cllr Paula Basnett, said:
The sale of these assets, which are surplus to the council’s requirements, have the two-fold benefit of helping an innovative local business expand and bring about new jobs and opportunities locally, while also providing some income to the council and removing an asset which no longer needs to be maintained at council taxpayer expense.
SticX is a local company which has extensive experience in delivering structural timber installations for new builds across a wide range of sectors and which operates with a strong emphasis on quality and innovation and it is extremely encouraging to see them succeeding in such a competitive industry, and to see the council helping to facilitate this.
Cllr Mike Wharton, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Cabinet Member for Business, Investment and Trade, said:
It is great to see an innovative local company expanding and creating dozens of new jobs. Our city region is at the forefront of building new homes using Modern Methods of Construction and Sticx are an important part of that sector. It’s even better that they are able to expand partly because of the benefits they can access thanks to their location within the Liverpool City Region Freeport.
In 2024, Wirral Council’s Economic Growth Service and the 14-19 Team supported the company with the recruitment of a trainee designer six-month job role funded through the Council’s Intermediate Labour Market programme. Following a selection process, Sticx offered the position to a young care leaver who was not in employment or training at the time, and lives locally in Seacombe. In December, they won an Inspiration Award at Wirral Council’s Children Looked After and Care Leaver, Success and Achievement Awards. Sticx Limited have continued the young person’s employment beyond the initial six months and have nurtured his skills and personal development in his trainee role.
The Council’s Economic Growth Service, in partnership with the Liverpool City Region Freeport Team at the Combined Authority, has been supporting the company to understand eligibility for incentives provided through the UK Freeport programme, which can include stamp duty relief, employer’s national insurance relief on new jobs created and capital allowances where eligible.
As the company is expanding and has increased its floorspace, the business has been able to apply for Freeport Business Rates Relief, which is locally administered and is assessed against the LCR Freeport Gateway Policy, designed to guard against economic displacement effects whilst incentivising growth, as well as attracting investment and high-quality jobs to the area from key sector industries.
John Maddock, Director, SticX, said:
These are exciting times for SticX. The Government’s commitment to building many more homes using structural timber has given us the confidence to spend over £1m in the expansion of our factory in Seacombe.
Sticx is firmly rooted in Wirral and our growth will mean opportunities for local people. We have created a local company capable of helping to deliver a sizeable chunk of the new homes to be built in the region.
For those that live in Wirral, the potential jobs and retention of money within the local economy are as important as the new homes themselves.
We’re grateful for the backing from Wirral Council’s Economic Growth Team, who clearly understand the significance of what we’re trying to achieve.
Liverpool City Region Freeport is one of only eight freeports in England and was approved by the UK Government in December 2022. The LCR Freeport is a designated area covering 45km, where a range of economic incentives are available, covering customs, business rates, planning, regeneration, innovation, trade and investment support. Local councils are able to retain 100% of business rates growth generated within specific Freeport tax sites – located in Birkenhead, St Helens and Widnes, which can be reinvested in projects that enable further investment, job creation and regeneration.
The Freeport is the key coastal access point to the UK’s largest concentration of manufacturing, and in total, £194m has been committed to investments within the Freeport since receiving formal designation from the government in December 2022. Recently £1.5m of Liverpool City Region Freeport funding was announced, focused on driving innovation and skills.
