Work starts on Cranswick poultry site

25-Oct-2018 - Last updated on 25-Oct-2018 at 16:50 GMT

Cranswick is investing £60m in its processing facility in Eye

Construction work on Cranswick’s poultry facility in Suffolk has begun.

The project is billed as the largest single investment ever undertaken by Cranswick. As well as the £60m on the site, additional investment is planned across the farming and feed-milling infrastructure, taking the total investment relating to the project to around £70m.

Cranswick has spent the past two years developing the project following its purchase of Crown Chicken, based in Weybread and Kenninghall, in April 2016.

Most efficient facilities

The site is expected to be the most efficient poultry processing facilities in the UK and Europe, supplying leading UK retailers and other manufacturers with fresh poultry.

The factory would employ over 700 people, with 300 new jobs created in the region and the remaining staff transferred from Cranswick’s existing production facility in Weybread, the company said.

Cranswick already operates three food processing sites and runs pig and chicken farming operations across Norfolk and Suffolk; employing more than 2,000 people in the region.

Local community

The project has been managed by Trundley Design Services. In a bid to bring as much benefit to the local community as possible, Cranswick has awarded over £10m of the project costs to local contractors. These include a £6m contract to JH Vaudrey & Son, the main civil contractor to complete the groundwork, which is based just two miles away from the site.

Cranswick has also signed a £1.5m contract with A C Bacon of Hingham to supply steelworks for the site and a £1.5m contract to JBC Roofing of Kings Lynn.

David Park, managing director of Cranswick Poultry, said: “The project at Eye … will create one of the most advanced poultry sites in Europe. Since acquiring Crown Chicken in April 2016, we have been committed to ensuring work on the site is carried out by local companies.”