Jobs boost as Lindstrand's business balloons

Mr Lindstrand said his firm Lindstrand Technologies Ltd in Oswestry is building the hangar for Goodyear's ambitious airship Wingfoot operation in Long Beach California, USA.

He is one of the world's foremost experts on inflatable structures and set the world distance record in lighter-than-air travel when he and Richard Branson crossed the Pacific in a balloon emblazoned with the Virgin logo.

Mr Lindstrand was the first man to fly a hot air balloon across both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and to the edge of space.

His 1988 world altitude record flight to 20,000 metres lasted for 16 years.

He said: "The hangar is 107 metres long, 32 metres wide and 25 metres high. It will take 30,000 square meters of fabric to build it and will be delivered in June 2017.

"It will be for Goodyear's forthcoming third airship – Wingfoot Three.

"The falling value of the pound has been good for us.

"I have a full order book and it makes it so much cheaper for us to deal with firms overseas – 100 per cent of our business is export now.

"We are living in very interesting times and people are prepared to pay for my design projects.

"After a very low period in 2011, by 2014 we had turned things around and now I have the highest number of orders I have ever had in my life.

"I've increased the number of staff here in Oswestry from 20 to 40 over the past year and I expect to reach 50 employees by the end of this year."

Lindstrand inflatable permanent roofs use air cell technology and can be manufactured entirely off-site and installed in only one night.

The inflatable permanent roofs are cheaper to produce than traditional steel and glass installations, yet they have much better insulation properties, great acoustic and light-transmissible qualities.

Goodyear blimps first graced the skies in 1925 and a fleet of modern airships are still going strong.