Wednesday 23 April 2008

Aldi gets go-ahead to build €100m facility in Co Cork

GERMAN discount supermarket chain Aldi has been granted planning permission for a €100 million regional distribution centre in County Cork, which will create up to 160 jobs.

Cork County Council granted planning permission yesterday for the distribution centre at Mitchelstown, which will service Aldi stores in Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford.

A total of 120 jobs will be created in the massive warehouse and distribution centre, with the remaining 20 being filled in offices.


The distribution centre is to be built adjacent to the town’s western relief road on a 32-acre site which Aldi purchased from Dairygold.

County council planning officials attached a total of 72 conditions to the project.

One of the conditions is that Aldi will have to pay a development contribution of €5,602,275 to Cork Co Council.

The money will be used by the local authority for infrastructural developments in the area, including improvements to roads, water, sewerage and public lighting works.

Aldi will demolish a disused grain silo on the site to make way for the warehouses.

The 59,535 square metre development will incorporate a 43,655sqm warehouse and an 11,508sqm chilled warehouse. It will also include a two-storey, 3,636sqm office complex linked to the warehouse complex with ancillary buildings.

Aldi had looked at sites in Nenagh, Co Tipperary and Limerick, but decided that Mitchelstown was the most suitable because of its road network and available skilled workforce.

Aldi started operations in Ireland in 1999 and has more than 50 stores here. It has over 5,000 stores worldwide, and a workforce of tens of thousands.

Mitchelstown-based county councillor Liam O’Doherty welcomed the news: “This is a major boost to Mitchelstown, a town which has suffered severely from jobs losses in recent years.”

Cllr O’Doherty said Aldi were coming to Mitchelstown “off their own bat”, and hadn’t been enticed by Government grant aid.

“We’re hoping now that other big name companies will follow suit,” he said.

Irish Examiner

www.buckplanning.ie

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