Arla Foods, the dairy cooperative, is marking 50 years of cheese-making at Lockerbie in Scotland with a multi-year investment programme of more than £144m.
Since its opening in 1975, Arla Lockerbie has grown into one of the UK’s largest cheese-making facilities. Arla has recently invested £34m to upgrade its cheddar facilities and will now expand the site with a Centre of Excellence for the production of UHT and lacto free milk in the UK.
Arla’s Lockerbie site today takes in over 600 million litres of milk every year, producing around 200 million litres of fresh bottled milk and 42,000 tonnes of cheese.
Fran Ball, SVP of UK Supply Chain at Arla Foods, said: “This is a landmark moment for Lockerbie. As we celebrate 50 years of production, we’re also unlocking the site’s next era with significant investment to power future growth.
“This month we’ve already delivered major technology upgrades as part of our £34 million enhancement of cheddar production, and we’re thrilled to confirm the start of construction for the new Centre of Excellence for UHT and LactoFREE milk at Lockerbie—bringing 90 new roles and fresh opportunities to the local community.”
Arla has also nearly completed construction of a second anaerobic digestion (AD) plant at its creamery in Lockerbie, which will help to turn waste from whey permeate – a by-product from cheese making – into renewable energy by supplying bio-methane into the gas grid.
The existing AD plant can process up to 36,500 tonnes of whey permeate per year. At full capacity, it can generate around 30,500 MWh of gas annually – enough to heat more than 2,600 average UK homes.