French glass maker Saint-Gobain successfully fired up its Eggborough, Yorkshire, float glass plant & then held an official opening in mid-April. The company said that with demand for glass growing at 2-3%/year, the UK was the obvious choice of location for the company's latest plant. It represents an investment of £65m. G Huguen, UK MD, pointed out that the giant French-based glass maker had developed the process considerably over the years, but readily admitted that the technology started out on the other side of the Pennines. The French company has 25 plants and 163,000 employees worldwide with a turnover of £13.7bn in 1999. Worldwide it produces 250m sq m/year but estimates that the total UK & Irish market is less than 85 sq/m. In Britain it recently hit the headlines for its plans to acquire the super builders merchants group Jewsons.
