Lancaster business invests £400k in one of the largest wood drying kilns in the UK

Logs Direct, based in Halton, held an opening ceremony for its brand new state-of the-art kiln which is one of the biggest in operation in the UK.

Morecambe MP David Morris did the honours by cutting the red ribbon to officially declare the launch of the brand new wood drying kiln.

Installation of the kiln follows continued growth at the company which is among the UK’s largest specialist suppliers of logs, serving many customers across Lancashire and Cumbria.

Director Stephen Talbot said: "The wood demand in the UK has been amazing over the last few years. More and more people are putting wood burners into their houses and usually not only as a heat source but also they’re using it for cooking and for maintaining a cheaper way of living by creating heat from their wood burners, but also the ability to cook and look after the family in that way.

"What we believe we have today is probably the largest kiln in Britain for drying fire wood and holding over 400 cubes of wood and taking somewhere between five and seven days to dry.”

Logs Direct say the arrival of the kiln is set to facilitate further growth within the business and deliver the quantity of Ready to Burn wood that the consumer requires via their wood suppliers, in order to be compliant with Defra legislation. It will also underpin the creation of more employment opportunities, by virtue of increased capacity.

Mr Morris said: “This is hidden away and it’s a great business. They export wood for culinary purposes all across America for pizza ovens. The wood is actually from this area and the flavour actually goes into the food that people eat and there’s a big demand for it in America.

"This is just showing that we are punching above our weight in Morecambe and Lunesdale, we are a community that exports internationally.”

The opening ceremony included an introductory talk from kiln manufacturer, Michael Powell of Glenfarrow UK Ltd. Guests were also treated to a tour of the Logs Direct yard and facility where they saw how a tree is turned into the logs and other wood products that can be used in wood burners, open fires, pizza ovens, chimeneas and barbecues.

About the kiln

The kiln was installed between August 2023 and January 2024 and has a capacity of 424 cubic metres, which it can handle every seven days.

Biomass waste from Logs Direct’s own production is utilised to heat the kiln which then produces perfect Ready to Burn kiln-dried logs, for sale to the consumer.

It operates on average at a temperature of 60 to 70C and is controlled by computer. The temperature is based on the requirement within a specific area within the kiln. Different woods enter the kiln with different moisture contents, so the new kiln automatically and intelligently responds to the amount of moisture humidity and delivers the correct temperature to dry the wood.

Ready to Burn wood requires a moisture content of less than 20% and this kiln can produce accredited wood, to that standard, no matter what wood is being dried.