Published Jun 11, 2026  •  Last updated 2 days ago  •  2 minute read

Guy Tremblay, vice president of operations for IKO North America, announced Thursday, June 11 the company is building a new insulation manufacturing plant on Sharpe Road just on the border of Brantford and Brant County. Photo by SUSAN GAMBLE /Brantford Expositor

A family-owned roofing company with locations around North America broke ground on the border of the city and county Thursday for a new insulation manufacturing plant that will eventually employ about 40.

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The plant will create extruded polystyrene insulation (XPS) under the IKO North America banner cozying up to two existing sister facilities – Roofmart Exterior Building Supply and SunGro Horticulture – which have plants on Sharpe Road.

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“This operation should be up and running in the second half of next year,” said Guy Tremblay, vice president of operations for IKO North America, at a groundbreaking ceremony, where executives and dignitaries dug their shovels into peat moss from the nearby SunGro plant.

“Construction will start in a few weeks on this site but we’re been working hard on this project for three years.”

The plant represents at $50-million investment on property that’s actually in Brant County and will create 30 to 45 new jobs, depending on how things go, said Derek Fee, the director of consumer and corporate affairs for IKO.

With IKO already one of the largest family-owned suppliers and exporters of roofing materials in the world, this new plant will be IKO’s first to focus on XPS – extruded polystyrene insulation boards.

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The recyclable insulation is light but strong and can be used in a variety of roofing systems.

Fee said the new site, along with placing the plant next to sister facilities, makes excellent sense for a business that will serve both southern Ontario and the northern U.S. with good highway access.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, IKO’s CEO, David Koschitzky, said IKO is a company that tends to remain in the communities where it builds plants.

“We stay for many, many years and take a lot of pride in the fact we put down roots. Our workforce is like a family,” Koschitzky said.

He noted the company has been growing and recently opened a fibreglass manufacturing plant and glass mat facility in South Carolina and will open a new plant in Clay Hill, Florida later this month.

Koschitzky said after this, IKO might ‘rest’ for a bit to consider future growth.

IKO has more than 25 manufacturing plants in North America and Europe and exports asphalt shingles and other building materials to nearly 100 countries.

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@EXPSGamble

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