ONE of Burnley's biggest employers today unveiled £6.5million extension plans and a jobs boost for the town.

VEKA will double the size of its factory and has taken on an extra 55 new people with plans for more over the next two years.

The fast-growing international firm supplies PVC windows and construction products.

It says the the massive expansion is due to projected growth.

Work will soon start on the development which will include a state-of-the-art distribution centre on the former Lucas site, adjoining Veka's existing Rossendale Road manufacturing unit, which will be completed around Easter 2004.

Managing director Peter Abbott said: "Our business has grown by 35 per cent in the last two years, the workforce has increased from 230 to 310 and we are projecting further increases of more than 35 per cent by 2006.

"Such expansion has made the new centre very necessary and at the same time the extra capacity will give us room for much more growth in the future."

Operations director David Jones added that the new building will make Veka Burnley the second biggest site in the whole global group after the USA.

"We will also be the only site in the group to use such state-of-the-art retrieval systems," he added.

"The facility will give us much more efficient storage and faster packing and shipping than at present. It will also add 50 per cent more space and enable us to consolidate all our external warehousing into the single site."

Local companies and suppliers are being used wherever possible and, as part of the contract, Barnfield Construction has committed to using its own local workforce rather than subcontractors from outside the area.

Mr Abbott added: "We are delighted that we were able to secure this local site and keep the benefits within our home town of Burnley, especially as we have been able to make such good use of a brownfield site."

As well as the ultra-modern factory design, Veka will also add landscaping and trees to create a completely new frontage onto Rossendale Road.

Veka is one of the world's biggest manufacturers of extruded PVC-u products, with eleven factories in nine countries across Europe, Asia, America and Russia.

The UK arm of the company is Veka plc, with a massive manufacturing base at Burnley, extruding PVC-u for windows, doors, screen walling and other construction products.

VEKA has been operating in East Lancashire since 1986 when it set up with just 30 workers operating from a modest 30,000 square feet factory on the site that today houses 310 staff, over £3million of stock and some of the world's most advanced extrusion equipment.