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“A temple of Innovation” in Rotherham – former PM Rishi Sunak

Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has described a new state-of-the-art Rotherham development as “a temple of innovation”.

Opening AESSEAL’s Factory for the Future, Mr Sunak said the country could learn from the success of the company.

He told more than 200 guests at the Mill Close headquarters ceremony that it was not just about founder and managing director Chris Rea building a “world leading company”, but how he had gone about it.

The Conservative MP for Richmond and Northallerton said:
“He is a deeply principled man who is committed to making the world a better place than he found it. All of you have been part of this extraordinary story of what makes this company special.”

AESSEAL was formed with five employees in 1979, and now serves more than 100 countries with almost 2,000 staff.

Mr Sunak said its growth was a success story the country could learn from, and added: “One of our biggest challenges is the sense that we’ve lost that innate confidence that tomorrow will be better than today.

“What makes Chris stand out is his belief in the future. He knows that our best days are ahead of us, that we should walk confidently into the years ahead, that our country is home to great innovators and entrepreneurs like himself, and that there is little that we can’t do when we have confidence in ourselves and in our vision. AESSEAL is successful because the company defines reliability. You can trust AESSEAL – signed, sealed and delivered. This is a temple of innovation.”

Mr Rea said the building was called the Factory for the Future, not the Factory of the Future, because it represented something that was “always evolving and not static”.

He added:

“We have facilities we could close down and fill tomorrow but that is not our style. We make tasks redundant but we never make people redundant. If you have space and you have great people and great customers, you will fill it.”

Introducing Mr Sunak, chairman of manufacturers’ organisation Make UK, Lord Richard Harrington, said: “I live in London and speak to a lot of people in banking and real estate who say ‘things are really bad, what are we going to do?’

“I come here and I see this factory, the orders, the people working here and the latest technology, and know this is where the strength of the country is.”

Representatives from the worlds of manufacturing, engineering, politics and national media – as well as AESSEAL staff from across the globe, including the US, Spain, Colombia, Canada, Germany, Brazil and the Middle East – were given guided tours of the factory, showcasing innovations and sustainability, and Tree Walk tours on which green initiatives were highlighted.

Designed in collaboration with Race Cottam Associates, the building doubles the size of the previous plant to create a 175,000 sq ft state-of-the-art global showcase for sustainable manufacturing.

It includes £5.8 million of green only investment on solar panels, battery storage and other energy-saving or environmental measures.

Construction began in 2022, with the project voted Sustainable Development of the Year at the South Yorkshire Property Awards 2024.

October 2nd, 2025

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