Trade kitchen giant Howdens has officially begun work to significantly expand its Runcorn manufacturing facility, which it says will make the site “one of the largest cabinet production lines in the world”.
The expansion follows a £100m investment from Howdens that will increase the size of its Runcorn facility by 40%, growing from 500k sq ft to 700k sq ft.
The expansion work is estimated to take around three years to fully complete, but progress officially began yesterday, November 26, with a ground-breaking ceremony at the site, which was attended by Howdens CEO Andrew Livingston and operations director Julian Lee.
Howdens says the new factory will house state-of-the-art manufacturing machines that will help support its expansion plans not only in the UK, but also its growing business in Ireland and France.
The Runcorn factory has been making pre-assembled cabinetry for over 30 years, and currently employs over 450 staff. Although it is one of five production Howdens production facilities in the North of the UK, the trade giant estimates it makes more than 70% of the business’ rigid cabinets each year.
Howdens submitted planning permission to increase the size of the Runcorn site earlier this year. In its original proposal, the company said its operations had expanded and changed considerably since it first started operating at the site several decades ago, even noting that it was having to use HGV trailers as semi-permanent storage due to size limitations.
Halton Council approved the expansion plans in June 2025, with Howdens also recently purchasing the freehold of the site.
Andrew Livingston, Howdens CEO, said; “Our Runcorn manufacturing facility is critical to our business and has been for many years,” said Andrew Livingston, Howdens CEO.
He continued: “We are proud of our skilled teams who make the facility what it is. This expansion matters to the community and to UK manufacturing. Today’s investment demonstrates our commitment to UK skilled jobs and strengthening Howdens’ capability to support future growth here and abroad.”
Julian Lee, Howdens operations director also added: “It’s an important day for Runcorn. This factory has been making our cabinets since 1995, and this investment secures our ability to keep manufacturing 100% of them in the UK for our depots and their customers.
“The real driver is the people here. Their commitment, work ethic and skill are the reason we produce the best cabinets in the industry. This expansion strengthens our vertical integration and gives us the capacity we need to support a growing depot network for many years.”
In other news, Howdens has seen an incredibly strong business trajectory throughout 2025 so far. The kitchen giant recently reported it had broken its own sales records during the recent peak trading period, with sales ahead by 2.4% compared to 2024.