The £45m investment is in Freeport East’s Gateway 14, a 67 hectare site owned by Mid Suffolk District Council on the outskirts of Stowmarket.
The announcement comes at a time when the UK and Turkey are discussing an enhanced free trade agreement.
Assan Panel managing director İhsan Tolga Akar said that the goal is to have the new plant operational by autumn 2025, depending on securing the necessary approvals,
As part of its investment, Assan Panel, which exports to 85 countries from Turkey, is planning to establish a new office in Ipswich to cater the UK market.
The factory will manufacture sandwich panels filled with polyisocyanurate (PIR), mineral wool, or polyurethane.
Haluk Kayabaşı, chief executive of parent company Kibar Holding, said: “Kibar Holding, one of the leading groups of the Turkish industry, under which Assan Panel operates, is taking firm steps forward on its globalisation journey with its unabated investment moves. We aim to further strengthen our presence in the European market with the new facility investment of Assan Panel in the UK, which has previously increased its presence abroad with the investments it has realized in Jordan and Azerbaijan. By making a difference with the innovative, pioneering, sustainable, energy-efficient products we offer, we serve for the transition in European sandwich panel market for sustainable solutions, and now with more concentration in the UK.”
Freeport East chief executive Steve Beel said: “We are confident this is a model that will encourage other international manufacturers to consider Freeport East as a future strategic location.”
Councillor Richard Smith, Suffolk County Council cabinet member for economic development, said: “This is a substantial investment which will create many new local jobs and be a significant boost for Suffolk’s manufacturing sector, and I would like to commend the joint inward investment and Freeport East teams for their important role in securing it.”
