The multi-million pound investment project will involve the construction of a 3,000 sqm distribution centre at the bakery, which produces 2M loaves, rolls and morning goods each week.
Lorien Engineering Solutions will be the building and utility designer on this project and will also manage the integrated design and project management of the new facility. Work is due to be completed in early 2011, with the last six months focusing on process line installation and commissioning within the building.
The project team has to maintain manufacturing capability and customer service levels while the work takes place.
Frank Roberts & Sons supplies the major multiples and owns its own fleet of delivery vehicles, which distribute stock directly to local shops across the country.
The company’s md Mike Braddock said: “These ambitious plans will help us to create a more modern and efficient manufacturing site. The expansion will also allow us to develop the brand and add more products to our ranges securing our long-term future as a leading bakery in the UK.”
Food Manufacture's Hayley Brown also reports that Warburtons has bought North East Bakery’s former baking plant on the Newburn Industrial Estate in Newcastle.
North East Bakery went into administration just days before Christmas and the site’s sale was confirmed by administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) last week.
“We are pleased to have secured the sale of the bakery site in a relatively short period of time,” said Mark Loftus, director and joint administrator of PwC. “It can only be good news for the local economy that Warburtons is the buyer – a move that clearly demonstrates its commitment to the North East.”
Loftus and Ian Green, partners at PwC, were appointed joint administrators of North East Bakery on December 22, 2009.
They released a statement explaining that it went into administration because trading had suffered in the run-up to Christmas. North East Bakery comprised a 1,858 sqm bakery, as well as a number of retail outlets. It employed around 120 people.