Knauf Insulation to invest £5 million into Cwmbran plant

Knauf Insulation has announced plans for the investment at its Cwmbran Glass Mineral Wool plant off the A4051.

More than £5 million will be invested into packaging equipment, enabling the plant to produce Glass Mineral Wool slabs.

It is hoped that beginning production of Glass Mineral Wool slabs in Cwmbran will help reduce the environmental impact of transporting goods by taking up to 1.5 million truck miles off the road each year.

The investment is in addition to a £40 million investment in Knauf’s St Helens plant to buy an adjacent site and increase its capacity by around 30,000 tonnes a year by late 2023 or early 2024.

Knauf Insulation's investment will lead to Glass Mineral Wool slabs being produced in Cwmbran. Picture: Knauf Insulation.

Neil Hargreaves, managing director of Knauf Insulation Northern Europe, said: “This is an exciting development for our business and both our UK Glass Mineral Wool plants.

“These investments support the anticipated growth in demand driven by the Future Homes Standard and improved energy efficiency in new buildings as well as from more renovation of existing buildings.

“These developments are critical as we step up our efforts to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, climate change and energy security.” 

Dominique Bossan, chief executive of Knauf Insulation EMEA, said: “As well as the additional capacity to support growth domestically and overseas, we’re excited to bring new lower lambda and thicker products to the UK and Ireland market.

“This supports our objective to continually innovate and provide our customers with the best range of non-combustible insulation solutions across both Glass and Rock Mineral Wool technologies.

“All these investments will further reduce the embodied carbon of our products and the built environment in line with our sustainability strategy, For A Better World.”