A HAMPSHIRE-based glass dome manufacturer has been shortlisted for a prestigious award.

Solardome Industries, which employs 11 people at its premises on the Yeoman Industrial Park in Nursling, is in line for the Business Innovation Award 2014 run by the Federation of Small Businesses.

Solardome was nominated after it specially designed and built a glass-domed, three-storey nature house with a garden inside it, in Norway.

The Solardome Pro is similar to the Eden Project in Cornwall and since creating the Norwegian home the company has made two more for customers in Austria.

The geodesic dome specialist won the south-east regional finals of the Federation of Small Business Worldplay UK Business Awards and is now waiting to see whether it clinches the national title due to be announced in May.

Pippa Bailey, whose father Bruce Cowan started the business in 1995 at Horton Heath near Fair Oak, said: “The Solardome Pro system was only possible due to the innovation and dedication of the Solardome team and we are very proud to be an award finalist.”

The Solardome Pro design, dubbed the Snowglobe, is 15 metres in diameter and it has been made to withstand stormy conditions and extreme snowfall.

The Snowglobe can be clad in different materials, say the company’s bosses,  and the structure takes about 12 weeks to manufacture and installation can take as little as six days.

Alice Dickinson from the company said: “Some are single-glazed and other are double-glazed and the panels are made with toughened glass. Most of our orders come from the UK. But the first three Solardome Pro orders have come from Europe.”

Solardome moved to Nursling in 2011.