CUMBERLAND: The former Hunter Douglas property in Allegany County, where plans are afoot to connect a new CSX railway line, has been purchased by an Irish business. Kingspan Roofing + Waterproofing will open a new manufacturing facility in the county, according to a statement made by Governor Wes Moore on Friday.
Kingspan is based in Ireland and operates a large number of firms throughout the United States. One Hunter Douglas Drive in Cumberland is now a 348,000-square-foot structure that will be redeveloped in December. Over the next five years, Kingspan intends to add 95 full-time employees.
According to the announcement, Kingspan Roofing + Waterproofing is a new branch of the global parent firm Kingspan Group, which is a pioneer in high-performance building solutions and insulation and serves hundreds of communities worldwide.
The new construction will be supervised and managed by the Allegany County Department of Economic and Community Development, which will also contribute up to $265,000 to the rail project. According to the statement, the George C. Edwards Fund will also increase aid with rail construction expenditures by $1 million through the Tri-County Council for Western Maryland.
The business is also qualified for funding via the Job Creation Tax Credit, the More Jobs for Marylanders program, and the state’s Partnership for Workforce Quality program.
Purchase
The approximately 350,000-square-foot structure and nearly 35 acres were transferred from Hunter Douglas Northeast Inc. to Kingspan Roofing + Waterproofing last month for $13 million, according to the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation. The North Branch Industrial Park’s Hunter Douglas plant, which produced window coverings and blinds, closed its doors last year.
Previously employing over 800 locals, the Cumberland operation was the company’s largest fabric plant. According to a business representative in March 2023, the decision to terminate the Allegany County factory was motivated by the necessity to combine operations and product demand. 361 workers were employed by Hunter Douglas at the Cumberland location at the time.
‘Cousin’
According to a page on their website, Kingspan is “your Irish American cousin.” The Kingspan Group was established in Kingscourt, County Cavan, Ireland, in the middle of the 1960s. According to the website, “Eugene Murtagh founded his engineering business in the yard behind his family pub in Kingscourt.”
More than 1,500 workers are employed by Kingspan, which opened up shop in the United States in 2008, at 16 different manufacturing and distribution locations across the continent. According to the website, “Kingspan formed its Roofing + Waterproofing division in 2022 by acquiring Ondura Group and Derbigum.”
More than 1,500 workers are employed by Kingspan, which opened up shop in the United States in 2008, at 16 different manufacturing and distribution locations across the continent. According to the website, “Kingspan formed its Roofing + Waterproofing division in 2022 by acquiring Ondura Group and Derbigum.”
The company has offices in places like Illinois, Georgia, and California, and its U.S. components include metal-framed skylights, insulation, and insulated panels. The BBC revealed this month that the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, a final report of a 2017 fire in west London that claimed 72 lives, included criticism of Kingspan’s insulation company.
Although Kingspan was not directly to blame for the incident, the news agency said that the company’s marketing of one of its products shown “complete disregard for fire safety.” Last month, Shane Lowry, a golfer, severed his relationship with Kingspan following the Grenfell investigation report, according to a Guardian article.
Kingspan will open a location in north Stillwater, according to a story published last week in the sister newspaper of the Cumberland Times-News, the Stillwater News press in Oklahoma. “Kingspan Insulated Panels has developed a unique fixing system to ensure that this can be done both safely and securely,” according to a recent article published in Irish Building Magazine.