A HEREFORDSHIRE company claims it will have the biggest manufacturing site in the world for its industry after ambitious expansion plans this year.

Kingspan Insulation, based in Pembridge, near Leominster, is due to open two new production lines this year, as well as a new warehouse.

More than 50 jobs will be created by the increased production capacity, coming hot on the heels of 75 jobs already created in the past six months.

Turnover leapt from £45.7m to £57.8m last year, and is expected to reach £65m this year.

Founded in 1981, the company moved to its present site, at Shobdon Airfield Industrial Estate, in 1986, when the company took over the Torvale Building Products site.

Since then, it has grown from nine to 245 employees.

Biggest

"This site is already the biggest high-performance insulation manufacturing site in Europe and will be the biggest in the world within the next few months with our current plans to expand production capacity," said Peter Wilson, managing director.

"We moved all our operations to Pembridge in 1996 because we were very impressed by our Herefordshire work force and we made a conscious decision to stay local.

"We're proud of the fact that we source much of our materials locally and generate indirect employment across the county through our subcontractors, suppliers and hauliers."

Kingspan Insulation products have been used in many major buildings throughout Britain.

In Herefordshire, they have been used in the recent refurbishment of Sainsbury's supermarket, in the County Hospital and the Magistrates Court.