Denmark-based toy giant the Lego Group has announced plans to open a $1bn carbon-neutral plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia, US. The company will start construction of the 160,000m2 facility in late 2022 with production scheduled to begin in late 2025. A temporary packaging site creating up to 500 new jobs is set to open in early 2024.

The investment forms part of a wider growth strategy and aims to shorten supply chains for the Lego Group in the Americas. The Virginia factory will be the company’s second in the US and seventh globally.

Niels B Christiansen, CEO of the Lego Group, commented in a company press release: “This is an exciting step for the Lego Group. More and more families are falling in love with Lego building and we are looking forward to making Lego bricks in the US, one of our largest markets. The location in Virginia allows us to build a solar park, which supports our sustainability ambitions and provides easy links to country-wide transportation networks. We are also looking forward to creating fantastic employment opportunities for the people of Virginia.”

The company is also expanding additional factories in Europe and China and in December 2021 announced plans for a $1bn plant in Vietnam.