Monarch 330 Let to Danish Crown

Around 300 jobs are to be created in Rochdale, after global food giant Danish Crown invest over £100m in a new bacon factory, by completing on the letting of Monarch 330 at Wilson Bowden's Kingsway Business Park development.

Winvic oversaw the construction of Monarch 330, which achieved practical completion in September 2022.

Danish Crown are aiming to open the 330,000 sq ft processing facility during the second half of 2023. It will be the company's first new UK factory for three years and, once fully operational, the site will produce up to 920 tonnes of bacon and gammon a week.

Danish Crown said the new site will be 100% powered by renewable energy and built to "market-leading" environmental standards.

Heat recovery from the plant's utility systems will supplement conventional heating sources to heat the office space and provide hot water, while ammonia will be used as a refrigerant to minimise environmental impact.

Food waste will be reduced through the use of bacon offcuts in other products such as sausages and a circular packaging system for deliveries of pork to the site will minimise packaging waste.

Chief executive Jais Valeur said: "Danish Crown has a long heritage in the UK, bringing British consumers high quality bacon and pork products for over 135 years.

"This investment forms the next step in our commitment to the UK market. Our ambition is for a more sustainable future of meat production and sustainability has been central to every decision we have made on this new facility, whether that's powering the site with 100% renewable energy, processing bacon reared to high sustainability and welfare standards, or putting employee health and wellbeing at the heart of the design."