Westcountry Glass, which is part of the Cornwall Glass Group, is making its largest investment in its 37 years of trading. A GBP 5 million investment and 30 new jobs will be created with one big move to Plymouth.
A GBP 5 million investment and 30 new jobs to be created with one big move to Plymouth for the family run glazing manufacturer, Westcountry Glass.
Westcountry Glass, which is part of the Cornwall Glass Group, is making its largest investment in its 37 years of trading. The sealed unit manufacturer, currently located in Saltash, is relocating and expanding into new premises in Plymouth, called Concept House in Langage Science Park, quadrupling its factory size to over 40,000 square feet.
Westcountry Glass manufactures and supplies double- and tripled-glazed units to the South West with an extensive product range and performance glass. With the growing market, Westcountry Glass has experienced such an increased demand over the past five years, that they have outgrown their already extended factory! The new expansion will see Westcountry Glass’ delivery routes go up the M5 corridor to Birmingham and across the M4 to Swindon, growing the supply reach of the Cornwall Glass Group to new counties and customers, with exciting new possibilities.
The glass manufacturing and processing capabilities will also be substantially increased, with a large investment into state-of-the-art machinery and technology. The intention is to install a new toughening plant that will have the ability to toughen glass that is approximately 2,800mm x 4,200mm in size and between 4-19mm in thickness. It will have the most up to date technology in zoned heating and convection to maximise output, glass quality and visual quality. With a larger toughening plant on site, it will bring a great new dynamic to the business which complements the new double and triple glazed unit line capabilities. The new unit line will be able to produce over-sized double and triple glazed units up to 4,000mm x 2,700mm depending on the glass types specified. It is also intended to add a CNC processor to the factory as well, which will extend Westcountry Glass’ processing capabilities, including shaped glass that can also be drilled and etched.
Mark Norcliffe, Company Director, says: “I am very proud to have had the opportunity to direct Westcountry Glass since it became part of Cornwall Glass Group in the summer of 2009. Six years on and Westcountry Glass has retained the majority of its very loyal customers and skilled and experienced hard working colleagues who are now building on all the success of these years to take the business into its next exciting chapter. This significant investment in the Cornwall Glass Group at Westcountry Glass will enable us to provide our own branch network, existing customers and new customers with a full range of high performance and much larger product offerings along with new single toughened processed glass products which we have not been able to produce before. We are all very excited and looking forward to the opportunities and challenges ahead.”
The relocation will initially create 30 new jobs over the next two years for the Plymouth community, including skilled processors and apprentices, adding to their already strong team of 38. This exciting new move for Westcountry Glass will be fully operational in the later part of 2015.