Rockwool to open huge manufacturing site in Sutton Coldfield neighbouring Amazon

Nick Horner
·5-min read
An artist's impression of what the new Rockwool manufacturing plant at Peddimore in Sutton Coldfield will look like including its two towers of 'up to 75 metres'
-Credit: (Image: Rockwool)


A Danish insulation firm is set to build a ‘state-of-the-art’ manufacturing plant on the edge of Sutton Coldfield. Rockwool, which makes 'sustainable' stone wool insulation from volcanic rock, has agreed to buy a 114-acre site at Peddimore, the size of more than 70 football pitches and neighbouring the Amazon fulfilment centre, to build a second UK manufacturing facility.

It said: “Our materials help to make buildings safe, healthy and comfortable by improving energy efficiency, acoustics and fire safety.” It is consulting on its plan for Sutton, which it said would ‘create long-term jobs and open up training and supply chain opportunities for the local community’.

A little under half of the site, 61 acres, can be developed. The proposal includes buildings up to 18 metres high, with a small area of one of the building’s double that at 36.5 metres. There would also be two towers, called stacks, reaching ‘up to 75 metres high’. The site will have a furnace area, product packaging area, curing oven and the two stacks.

READ MORE: Life inside Amazon's £500m warehouse in Sutton where robots 'make life peaceful'

Rockwool said it was a ‘leading global non-combustible insulation manufacturer’. Its products are used for cladding, cavity insulation, flat roofs, floors, pipe insulation, fire protection and sound insulation. It said its stone wool could be 'endlessly recycled'.

The firm operates in 40 countries and has 12,200 staff, with 500 at a production site in Bridgend in south Wales, where it has operated since 1979. On Its Peddimore plans, Rockwool said: “The new facility would enable us to significantly boost our UK production, helping the UK to meet its climate change challenges and assisting in creating a safer built environment.”

In its consultation information, the firm said: “Our proposals are for a manufacturing facility where the majority of the buildings would be 10-18m in height, which is well within the planning existing permissions and is less than the height of the Amazon warehouse.

“A small area of one of the buildings would be around 36.5m in height and we would have two stacks with a maximum height of 75m. Our buildings will be constructed with the use of high-quality materials, with a neutral palette, selected to minimise their impact.”

A plan view of the proposed Rockwool site in Peddimore, Sutton Coldfield, next to the existing Amazon fulfillment centre
A plan view of the proposed Rockwool site in Peddimore, Sutton Coldfield, next to the existing Amazon fulfillment centre

It said at full capacity the plant would operate 24 hours a day, but outside activity would be less at night and at weekends.. Access to and from the site would be via the A38 and onto the main motorway network.

On the jobs front it said: “We would have a range of opportunities for skilled roles and would also expand our apprenticeship and undergraduate placement programmes to the site in both business and technical roles.” The site is expected to create 170 full-time, permanent jobs.

A Rockwool spokesperson said: “The Peddimore site, which is designated specifically for manufacturing use, is included in Birmingham City Council’s Development Plan and has outline planning permission for a manufacturing facility. Key infrastructure including a new access road and roundabout into the site is already in place, servicing an adjacent facility built in 2023.”

A view of the Rockwool manufacturing plant site, with the edge of the existing Amazon fulfillment centre at Peddimore pictured on the left hand side of the artist's impression
A view of the Rockwool manufacturing plant site, with the edge of the existing Amazon fulfillment centre at Peddimore pictured on the left hand side of the artist's impression -Credit:Rockwool

Nick Wilson, managing director of Rockwool UK and Ireland, said: “We’re very excited at the opportunity to expand the business into the West Midlands that would enable us to boost our production capacity in the UK and to create quality jobs and business opportunities in the community.

"During the past 45 years, we have built a strong foundation at our site in South Wales where we will continue to manufacture and invest for the long-term, and are now looking to build on that success with a second manufacturing plant at the Peddimore site.

“The West Midlands has a skilled, local workforce, a strong manufacturing tradition, and excellent transport links. So it is an ideal location for us to expand our business in the UK and bolster our service to customers in the Midlands and across the north of England and Scotland.

“We’re looking forward to sharing our plans with the community and are committed to being a good neighbour and partner for the Minworth and wider West Midlands community.” The firm said it was keen to play a role in the area saying it had a range of community-oriented activities in south Wales and made charitable donations, which it would replicate in the West Midlands.

The firm is consulting the public until Sunday, December 8 and views can be posted online. A public meeting has taken place with another scheduled for Thursday, November 28, from 3pm to 7pm at St. George’s Church, Water Orton Lane, Minworth, B76 9BU. The firm said it would then apply to Birmingham City Council to vary the existing planning permission to ‘suit our specific proposal’.

A reserved matters application will be submitted ‘later in 2025’ with more detailed proposals on the ‘design, layout, access, elevations, building materials, and landscaping’. A spokesman for the firm said: “There are elements of the proposed Rockwool facility that are higher than Amazon – and two stacks that would obviously be higher again. But generally, it has lower average height and the land platform is slightly lower down.”

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