THE owners of a timber mill destroyed by fire two years ago are optimistic about the future now their new building has opened.

Batsford Saw Mills on the Longleat estate, Warminster, has risen from the ashes after it burned down in October 2000. Ten people lost their jobs because of the fire.

Lord Bath opened the new site on Friday and the company has already taken on extra staff.

A Longleat spokesman said: "After an extensive underground survey to ensure there was no contamination and all environmental safeguards had been agreed, work commenced in September 2002 installing new equipment and erecting a custom built building on the original site.

"The result is a modern building designed to blend in with the surrounding forest, while the treatment process ensures an increased life for timber."

Batsford provide timber to anyone from DIY enthusiasts to landscape designers, builders and fencing contractors.

The fire, which sent toxic fumes of chrome arsenic and creosote billowing into the air above Longleat's forest, caused more than £150,000-worth of damage, destroying a treatment tank warehouse.

It took six hours to extinguish the flames and nine firefighters need hospital check-ups.