Arla Foods starts building dairy in UK

Arla Foods has started building its £150 million fresh milk dairy in Aylesbury, UK following the appointment of Caddick Construction Limited (CCL) and NG Bailey for the building phase of development. (Pictured, L to R: Andrew Morley, operations director at NG Bailey, Andrew Murray, MD of Caddick and Jakob Nielsen, project director at Arla).

CCL has started on site as principal contractor, with works expecting to take 75 weeks to complete. The company will be responsible for the construction of the main dairy and the energy centre, as well as all ancillary buildings and associated site works. NG Bailey will be responsible for the mechanical and electrical engineering portion of the contract, starting on site in June 2012.

Jakob Nielsen, project director at Arla, says: “We have already worked with CCL on a number of other Arla projects, including Stourton dairy in Leeds and Westbury Dairies, and NG Bailey has also worked with us on various build phases at Stourton.”

Once completed, the dairy will process and package up to one billion litres of milk per year. It will provide a £20 million annual wages bill, which will have a positive impact on the local economy, and will also create around 700 new jobs and up to 1,000 construction jobs over the next 18 months.

Peter Lauritzen, CEO of Arla Foods UK, says: “We are delighted to be underway with this project. In addition to it being one of the largest construction projects in the UK, we have ambitions for it to be the world’s first zero carbon fresh milk dairy, which will help Arla achieve its growth ambitions in the UK.”

Both contractors were appointed following a six-month tender process, in which they were up against some of Europe’s leading constuction and mechanical and electrical companies.

In addition to being responsible for the installation of the mechanical and electrical works, such as boilers, air compressors, ventilation and lighting in the energy centre, across the site and throughout the main dairy building, NG Bailey will also be responsible for wastewater and effluent treatment and recycling. Alongside the engineering division, the offsite manufacture and IT services arms of the company will also play its part in the development. NG Bailey has also been awarded the facilities management contract, which will be serviced by the company’s facilities services team.