Following the mid-July announcement by Glanbia Cheese that the company intended to invest €130m in a new mozzarella factory in Portlaoise, planning has been lodged with Laois County Council.

This will be the third factory built by the company along with their facilities in Wales and Northern Ireland, bringing their production capacity from 90,000t to 135,000t - an increase of 50%.

The facility is to be built in the Togher National Enterprise Park which is located along the M7 motorway. The application was received by the council on 13 August with a decision due by 7 October.

Development

The development is planned to comprise of a main building which will facilitate a cheese blending process, an office block for admin and technical support staff and external buildings to service the proposed facility.

The main production building is envisaged to be 15,400sqm or nearly 4ac in size and will include five loading bays. The front entrance porch will be glazed and reach 14.5m in height - the equivalent to a four-storey building. The car park for the facility will have room for 96 vehicles and there will be a trailer parking area of six spaces.

The company behind Glanbia’s mozzarella cheese business

Glanbia Cheese lodges planning for new factory in Portlaoise

The planned factory will be nearly 4ac in size and will include glazed porch reaching the same height as a four-storey building.