A HUDDERSFIELD firm has created 150 jobs at its head office as part of a £24m expansion plan.

Colne Bridge-based Mamas and Papas, the country' s leading nursery products brand, is nearing the end of a four-year development which is more than doubling its warehousing and office space in Huddersfield.

The company began in the town 22 years ago, when deputy chief executive Luisa Scacchetti could find only a limited choice in baby clothes and prams for her daughters.

And the business has thrived, with new warehousing and offices built to support the company's national head office at Colne Bridge and its shop expansion programme.

Chief executive David Scacchetti said: "We have opened 17 superstores since Christmas and will have 20 by the end of the year.

"That growth has pushed us to build the units we need to service the retail and distribution programme and expand the head office."

The first store opened in Birstall last year.

Each shop, similar to the first, costs £600,000 to fit out. They are designed to specifically show the company's range of prams, toys, clothes and nursery products.

The company's head office and warehouse at Colne Bridge was purpose-built in 1995.

A new £10m warehouse is being built on an 18-acre site at Colne Bridge, on land acquired from the former Holliday Dyes and Chemical firm.

The new 100,000sq ft warehouse has been designed by Shepley architects the Walton Horsfall Partnership.

It will match the futuristic-looking buildings already on the Colne Bridge site, which incorporate expanses of glass, steel and brick.

The warehouse should be completed this month, with a second, 30,000sq ft warehouse finished by November.

A 10,000sq feet area of office space will be created in a new extension on the site of the existing head office.

A creative department will be formed, housing marketing, design, sales and administration staff.

A works canteen, incorporating a continental-style café, will be incorporated in the new block.

When the building work is finished the grounds will be landscaped and additional car parking created.

Mamas and Papas employs 377 people at Colne Bridge and 700 nationwide.

More than 120 people have been recruited to the business in Huddersfield since Christmas and a further 30 people are required, across the board.

Mrs Scacchetti said: "As we open more stores we need more people at head office to work in customer care, distribution, marketing, creative and retail and superstore support."

The company performs its marketing, photography and graphic design in-house.

Its products are sold to 1,000 retailers in the UK and overseas to countries such as America, Japan, France, Cyprus and Malta.

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