The Terang economy is set to be boosted with the return of a timber yard to the town. Alliance Timber is now operating out of the old McVilly Timber yard. Source: The Standard
Dean Montgomery and Aaron Keating are the directors of Alliance Timber while Anthony Westwick will manage the business.
When McVilly Timber closed down in March, it had a staff of 16. Mr Westwick said six to eight staff members would be employed to get the new venture up and running.
He said he was hopeful staff numbers would rise back towards 16.
“The site hasn’t been used for a few months so there is a bit to clean up,” Mr Westwick said.
“We hope to have it all up and going again by July 1, or sooner if possible.
“It’s good to have the yard, now we can go forward.
“We are aiming to make it a bigger scale operation than it was before.”
While Alliance Timber will use the Terang site for sales and production, it will also use a yard in Mumbannar, between Mount Gambier and Dartmoor, for production.
Mr Montgomery, who has businesses in China as well as Australia, said he was thrilled with his newest acquisition.
“I stumbled across the sale online and I was really keen to get it,” Mr Montgomery said. “McVilly Timber was a good business for a very long time. A town the size of Terang can’t afford to lose a business like McVilly’s.
“It’s a great community and we see it as a terrific business opportunity. “We think it won’t take long to get up and firing again.”
Mr Montgomery said the ability to get Mr Westwick on board as manager was critical to the purchase.
“Getting Anthony was the key to this going ahead,” Mr Montgomery said. “If we hadn’t have got him this wouldn’t have happened.
“He is such a great guy and knows the business back to front.
“He is the glue that has brought this all together.”
Mr Montgomery is from Geelong but has strong business links in the south-west. He owns Glenormiston College as well as the old Fletcher Jones factory in Warrnambool. Until recently, he also owned the Leura Hotel in Camperdown.
