Jobs boost as Ardagh Group to construct plant in Newtownabbey

The Ardagh Group is a leading global supplier of sustainable, infinitely recyclable, metal beverage cans to brand owners, and currently have 23 production facilities across nine countries. They currently employ close to 5,000 employees with sales of approximately $3.5bn (approximately £2.5bn).

The scale of investment planned, the job creation and supply chain opportunities will be a major boost for the local area and beyond.

The development at Global Point which is owned by Invest NI further enhancements the portfolio of high quality investments planned for this location which includes Sensata’s new research and development centre and AMIC the Queen’s University led Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Centre.

These strategic investments will sit alongside RLC, the first company to take up occupancy on the site which will also benefit from a recent planning approval to significantly extend the Park and Ride facility at Mossley West.

Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, Cllr Billy Webb said: “I am absolutely delighted to hear that the Ardagh Group has chosen our borough to open their first site in Northern Ireland.

“Newtownabbey has excellent transport links to airports, sea ports and main arterial road routes and with a great skills base amongst our residents they will find excellent employees both locally and further afield.

“This development will provide employment and opportunities for various sectors across the economy, from the site build to the day to day operation once established.

“I am sure that not only will many of our local residents benefit as a result, it will also provide opportunities for our young people to develop skills in the future not to mention our local businesses who will welcome this additional footfall in the area.

“The ouncil is working closely with potential investors such as the Ardagh Group to ensure that they receive the necessary assistance in relation to site information, professional planning advice and financial support in an efficient and timely manner to facilitate their investment decisions.

“We believe our borough is an exceptional investment opportunity and we are committed to supporting any business interested in locating or expanding within Antrim and Newtownabbey.”

Commenting, Oliver Graham, CEO of Ardagh Metal Packaging (AMP), said: “This exciting project is an important part of AMP’s global investment programme.

“We are delighted to be investing in Northern Ireland supporting our clients’ sustainability needs and further reducing our carbon footprint by locating capacity closer to our end customers.”

Marcel Martin, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Coca-Cola HBC, added: “It is great to see this investment in the new can making facility and in Northern Ireland, especially as it will supply high-quality beverage cans to our plants.

“With our own state-of-the-art production facility in Knockmore Hill, Lisburn, Ardagh’s investment showcases the importance of partnership to bringing shared value to suppliers and customers and aligns with our desire to shorten our supply chain to reduce emissions and buy local where possible and support local jobs and communities.”

David Spratt, CEO of AMP Europe, said: “We plan to have the new state of the art plant operational during 2023 and we expect to commence recruitment in 2022. This investment is supported by key AMP customers and will have capacity for further expansion to service additional growth in customer demand.”

The move has been welcomed by South Antrim MP Paul Girvan.

The DUP representative said: “I am absolutely delighted that the Ardagh Group have chosen south Antrim as the base for their new factory. The project will inject £150 million into the south Antrim economy and will create around 150 new jobs.

“The decision to locate in south Antrim is clearly a testament to the skills and innovation of our local workforce and comes on the back of many other major job announcements for the area.

“Attracting investment and providing our young people with the best opportunities has always been my focus and I am delighted with yet another success on this front.

“I look forward to working with the company and Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council to have the factory operational by 2023.”

----

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We’re more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.
Please consider purchasing a copy of the paper. You can also support trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription of the News Letter.