Draft:Michael Lane

Michael W. Lane, B. Eng (Hons), MBA is the Managing Director at WeBuyBooks, one of the leading book recyclers in the UK.. .

He was born in Wallasey, Cheshire and attended The Mosslands School.

Early Career
Michael graduated from the University of Bradford with a BEng (Hons) in Civil and Structural Engineering in 1989. In 1993, he received his Master of Business Administration degree in Business Administration and Management from Kingston University.

Whilst Lane was obtaining his undergraduate degree in Civil and Structural Engineering, he worked full-time in his first site engineer role at Balfour Beatty, on the construction of the Paenmenback Tunnel in North Wales. After completing his degree he went on to work for A. E Farr Ltd., which was subsequently purchased by the AMEY Group, where he spent two years as a Project Manager working on a variety of civil engineering projects including the design and build of sewage treatment works in Devon and Cornwall for South West Water.

After completing his MBA he was promoted to a Strategic Planner for the group, during which he worked on several acquisitions and was a core Member of the Amay Group Flotation team. After the flotation, he moved back into a management role becoming Commercial Manager of the privatised, formerly Property Services Arm of the London Borough of Brent.

In 1997, after six years with the AMEY Group, Lane moved to TFM Holdings Ltd, a venture capital-backed acquisition from the Granada Group as Director of Finance. He then went on to become Managing Director of TFM Parking Services.

In 2003, Lane moved back up to the North West and was appointed as Managing Director for Bethell Power Services. Five years later, in 2008, Lane started WeBuyBooks with business partner Damien Carr.

WeBuyBooks
Lane started trading books from his garage at home, buying books from charity shops and selling them on online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay. In 2007, the pair opened a bookshop in Crawshawbooth, selling books both in the shop and online. In 2009 the brick-and-mortar store closed and efforts focussed solely on online sales, the company made its first major move to a warehouse in Haslingden.

In 2011, the company upscaled again to Hugh Business Park in Waterfoot. In 2018, the business expanded to further units at Hugh Business Park and eventually secured a seven-figure funding package from HSBC and upscaled once more to Hall Carr Mill in Rawtenstall.

In 2022, Lane launched WeBuyBricks, a circular economy based business buying and selling LEGO by weight.

Levelling Up
The Levelling Up Fund is a key Government policy to promote economic growth and tackle the gap between income levels in the region compared to more prosperous areas of the UK.

The Rossendale Levelling Up Board was set up in 2022 by Jake Berry, MP and Rossendale Council and is made up of large and small businesses, community groups and key public sector partners, to launch a bid for £17 million from the government’s new Levelling Up Fund. Michael Lane is Chair of the Rossendale Levelling Up Board and has supported the board’s efforts to obtain funding from both national and local councils. Funding will be distributed across the borough to support further and higher education provisions and build a more accessible public transport network