Burnley company plays part in Nightingale hospitals initiative

Last month, bosses at the firm made the difficult decision to temporarily close operations in the UK and place most of its staff on furlough due to the Covid-19 pandemic and following Government guidance.

This week however, following an urgent call from one of its customers, VEKA re-opened part of its factory to supply a material essential in the manufacture of building components used in establishing the temporary large-scale critical care hospitals following the Government’s plan in tackling the outbreak.

VEKA has its own unique recipe of uPVC compound or ‘mix’ that goes into the creation of its high-quality products.

Back in 2014 the company invested £5m in building the country’s most technically advanced mixing plant at their Burnley HQ, which has a potential capacity of 72,000 tonnes (as heavy as 4,000 double decker buses).

Typically, this is used to make uPVC profile that is the main component in the manufacture of windows and doors.

However VEKA also mixes compound for non-fenestration customers and when the activity is so critical to supporting the UK’s current healthcare efforts, re-opening this part of the business was the right thing to do.

Managing director of VEKA UK, Dave Jones, said: “Despite these challenging times, we are proud that our mixing plant facility can be used to support the creation of new hospitals currently being created by the Government to protect the health and safety of the nation.”