An Irish electric heater manufacturer is opening its first Canadian plant, and only second in North America, in London.

An Irish electric heater manufacturer is opening its first Canadian plant, and only second in North America, in London.

Glen Dimplex Americas will bring more than 100 jobs to its plant at Wilton Grove Road and Highbury Avenue when production begins in June, the company announced Friday.

“We wanted to be as close to our markets as possible and London is close to Highway 401 and it has the skill set we are looking for (in workers),” human resources director Laura De Filippis said.

The plant will begin by making baseboard heaters, supplying the home market as well as builders, she said.

“We have a manufacturing facility on the U.S. west coast and we needed capacity on the east coast. Demand has been growing in recent years. We really need to expand our North American footprint.”

News of the new plant comes as London is bracing for a wave of new jobs to wash over the city. Amazon will open south of here in 2023 with 2,000 workers, Maple Leaf Foods will bring 1,500 to the city and growth in other businesses may increase the total to more than 4,000 jobs created next year.

In addition the Ontario government has pledged to move its Workplace Safety Insurance Board head office from Toronto to London over the next four years. WSIB has about 3,000 workers in Toronto.

Dimplex is investing $7 million in its London plant and the Ontario government is contributing an additional $6.5 million, the company said.

Its U.S. plant is in Vancouver, Wash., and it has a sales office in Cambridge, Ont., with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland.

The 160,000-square-foot (14,400-square-metre) London plant will be located at 1040 Wilton Grove Rd.

“We have taken possession of it, we are renovating it and it will be ready to go” in mid-June, De Filippis said.

As for how it landed in London, Dimplex was searching for a presence in eastern North America and liked what they saw in London, said Kapil Lakhotia, chief executive of the London Economic Development Corp.

“We were appealing to them given our diversity and skill set in London,” he said.

London also had a building ready to be retrofitted that the manufacturer saw as ideal. And it has a complement of other building-related industries, such as door, window and countertop manufacturers, joining the local strengths in agri-food and automotive in the industrial sectors, Lakhotia added.

“We have a healthy diversity of advanced manufacturing and this is a welcome addition,” he said.

Dimplex operates 14 factories in nine countries. In business more than 70 years, it makes about 700 fireplace, heating and air treatment products.

“We are thrilled to welcome Glen Dimplex to London, along with more than 100 new jobs its arrival will deliver to our local economy,” acting mayor Josh Morgan said in a news release.

Dimplex will offer starting pay at about $20 an hour with benefits and a retirement plan, said De Filippis. Dimplex has already posted jobs on London job sites.

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