North Carolina Construction News staff writer
Saint-Gobain held a ground-breaking ceremony to start construction on a glass mat facility at its CertainTeed Roofing campus in Oxford. Construction will cost about $167 million – the company’s largest ever investment in a US roofing facility.
Glass mat is a material composed of short fiberglass filaments uniformly distributed and bonded together by a polymer resin. The mat forming process produces a fabric that is strong, stable, and heat-resistant, and is a key component in the production of roofing shingles.
The project received $700,000 in incentives and grants from the State of North Carolina, including funds from the One North Carolina Fund and a Rural Division Building Reuse Grant and investments in automation and new technology will focus on employee safety and helping Saint-Gobain’s meet its global vision of carbon neutrality by 2050.
“The construction of this facility in Oxford is an important step to maintain our industry-leading service to our customers,” CertainTeed vice-president Carmen Bodden said in a statement. “Our goal is for this plant to be the new industry standard – it will utilize cutting edge energy and water reduction technology, as well as innovative automation . . . as we continue our work to be a leader in light and sustainable construction.”
“The State of North Carolina is proud to partner with CertainTeed and to celebrate such an exciting milestone in the City of Oxford,” said Secretary Sanders. “This multimillion-dollar expansion is an outstanding investment in rural North Carolina, our talented workforce, and our shared commitment to advanced manufacturing that will continue to support this company for decades to come.”
Saint-Gobain has announced several growth initiatives this year:
- $928 Million acquisition of Kaycan, Ltd., a family-owned manufacturer and distributor of exterior building materials, becoming the top siding player in Canada.
- $100-million expansion of CertainTeed roofing facility in Peachtree City, Georgia.
- $28-million investment in ADFORS technical textile products facility in Dublin, Georgia.
- doubling the manufacturing footprint of CertainTeed Architectural manufacturing site in Lakewood, Ohio by building a new location in Strongsville, Ohio.
- $32-million renovation at CertainTeed insulation manufacturing site in Chowchilla, California.