By Plasteurope.com staff

The specialist for roofing and sealing sheeting as well as building insulation Soprema (Strasbourg, France; www.soprema.com) said it plans to expand its production of polyurethane insulation boards, both in Sausheim near Mulhouse in France and in Saint-Vulbas near Lyon. As part of an investment package worth EUR 66.5 mn, parts of the production are also to be brought back to France from abroad, as CEO Pierre-Etienne Bindschedler announced without providing any specifics.

Construction of the new plant in Sausheim is scheduled to begin in autumn 2024, with commissioning planned for 2026. The products are addressing the thermal building refurbishment market in eastern France, but – with a purported radius of 350 km – also in neighbouring German-speaking countries. Eighty additional jobs are to be created at Sausheim, where the lion’s share of the investment (EUR 50 mn) will be spent. French media reported the future capacity as 750,000 m³ per year, but Soprema itself did not give any figures.

Subsidiary ATI Isolation (Dagneux, France; www.ati-isol.com) is responsible for the construction of the company’s second plant in Saint-Vulbas, which is scheduled to go into operation in 2027.

Meanwhile, the expansion of the existing production of roofing and sealing sheets made of PVC and flexible polyolefins at the Hof/Oberroßbach site in the German Westerwald region is almost complete. The new capacities were originally scheduled to go operational in the first half of 2024. However, an enquiry by Plasteurope.com revealed that construction has been delayed somewhat. The first test runs are now planned for autumn 2024, with the first sheets to be delivered in 2025.

In 2022, the building materials group generated sales of EUR 4.82 bn with 10,500 employees. Of the 123 total plants, 41 alone are responsible for producing insulation boards.

— Translated by Christopher Köbel