Work begins on building Kerrygold Leek factory

Irish cheesemaker Kerrygold has started work on a new cheese packaging facility in Leek, Staffordshire, a year after announcing plans to pump £30M into its cheese plant there.

Following lengthy planning and preparation, Clegg Food Projects has begun building the 15,000m² facility next to Kerrygold's existing plant, where production will continue until the factory is completed.

When Kerrygold first publicised the project, it said that it would take three years to finish and create 100 jobs.

Clegg Food Projects will also be involved in transferring processing equipment from the old building into the new factory, which is expected to become operational in Autumn 2008. The existing factory, on Leek's Barnfield's Industrial Estate, will then be demolished.

The project is scheduled for completion in March 2009.

Stephen Giltrap, md of Clegg Food Projects, said: "We have already carried out a lot of enabling work, including sewer diversions and other groundworks. Building a factory so close to an existing plant while production continues on the site presents real challenges."