2020 is a significant year for Freefoam Building Products, with the company marking 30 years of trading.
In 1990 founding managing director, Tony Walsh, set up an extrusion plant in Cork, Ireland, with one co-extrusion line. With a vision to provide the growing home improvement market with high quality, long lasting, low maintenance PVC fascia and soffit, to replace traditional timber products, the business is said to have grown into a leading manufacturer in Ireland. Since then, Freefoam has become a broad pan-European business, with manufacturing operations in Ireland and the UK together with distribution in continental Europe.
Tony Walsh, now chairman, remarked: “This is an incredible milestone for any company. Freefoam has achieved this success through a combination of factors. First and foremost the hard work, passion, and exemplary commitment by our team members whose cooperative spirit throughout the company is at the heart of our business. The development and continued improvements to our product range and our innovation to create best in class building products that are guaranteed to provide value and longevity to homeowners has also proved to be a winning formula. We have dedicated ourselves to 30 years of product innovation, manufacturing and business process improvements and efficiencies to provide our customers with the highest quality building product solutions and services. Throughout 2020, we will be looking back at where we started, what we have achieved, and what our plans are for the future”
Today, Freefoam Building Products employs over 300 team members across three locations. Manufacturing facilities consist of 30 extrusion lines in Ireland and the UK, producing PVC-U and PVC-UE fascia, soffit, gutter and cladding. Aidan Harte, managing director, explained: “Our strategy of continued investment into plant and facilities has created robust and sustainable processing and manufacturing operations that are equipped to produce volume and quality on a consistent basis. We are looking forward to the future, with further expansion planned for our site in Northampton this year, ongoing investment in training and development for our team members and growth strategies in place for our European markets”.
