CIDER maker H Weston and Sons is planning to build a major new warehouse and office building at its headquarters in Much Marcle.

The company has submitted an application for the new building to Hereford-shire Council.

It calls for the demolition of the existing warehouse and mezzanine offices and the building of a new warehouse and five-storey office building.

Ian Lewis, Weston’s head of marketing, said the proposal reflected the company’s continued success.

“We are increasing our sales at a quite astounding rate. In the last year we produced 30 million litres of cider, compared with 10 million litres in 1996, and we have just enjoyed our 28th consecutive month of month-on-month growth.

“We’re just about on 200 employees and that too has increased significantly – by about 25 per cent over the last two years. We hope to be employing more people in the near future.

“We were named business of the year for 2011 by the Herefordshire and Worc-estershire Chamber of Commerce.”

The company owns about 200 acres of its own orchards and has contracts with some 250 local growers who supply about 10 million kilograms of apples a year.

“We’re just running out of space in our existing warehouse and offices, which is why were making the application,” said Mr Lewis.

He declined to say how much the firm will be spending on the project, but said it represented a substantial investment.

He said that the company is currently gearing up for this year’s apple harvest and plans for the near future include a relaunch of its organic range and the launch of new product lines in the new year. A report which forms part of the planning application says the proposed building will have minimal impact due to the contours of the site and the levels of the existing buildings and silo tanks.