5th February 2012
Lantmannen Unibake create 200+ jobs
25th Aug 2010
Bedford opened its doors to a major business today, as the Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson, marked the “turning of the sod” at land south of Cambridge Road, to declare the start of the building of a new facility for the international manufacturers, Lantmännen Unibake.
The Lantmännen Unibake site is located next to the Well’s & Young’s Centrum building and Asda’s recycling plant.
Lantmännen Unibake, a company with a turnover of 700 million Euros and 3,800 employees in 18 countries, will employ 200 + people at its cold bakery facility in Bedford.
Yeast based products, such as pastries and croissants, will be produced on-site and distributed to their customers that are divided into major retailers and food service.
The Bedford development (13,618 sq metres) is the first site the company has used which needs to be ‘built from scratch’. In April, Lantmännen Unibake contacted Bedford Borough Council, who then pulled out all the stops to secure necessary requirements, such as planning approval, so as to make the development possible. It took just four months from initial contact with the council, before work started on site.
The Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson, said: “This is a great investment for Bedford. We wanted the company here and with the land available and determination to make it happen, we showed Lantmännen Unibake they would be given a first class professional service. Their aspirations were shared by our vision for employment growth, which we hope will see improvement as a result of the dualling of the A421 and the further land development opportunities available. As national media reports on gloomy levels of unemployment and company closures, for Bedford to secure this investment, it shows we can be the business location of choice.”
“We firmly believe that moving our production base from Denmark to a local UK site in Bedford will greatly benefit our overall growth opportunities within the UK market place.” explained CEO of Lantmännen Unibake UK, Søren Landtved.
Søren Landtved continued: “The cutting of the first sod today is the first step in this very exciting journey for Unibake here in UK. We have been very satisfied with the service level from Bedford Borough Council, and are very much looking forward to further co-operation in the future. ”
The building of the facility commenced at 10am today, with plans to be completed and operational by Q2 2011. Recruitment for those positions created will commence shortly.
In the photo (from left to right): Graham Wright, Operational and Technical Director of Lantmännen Unibake U.K, Bent Pultz Larsen, CEO of Lantmännen Unibake, The Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson, and Søren Landtved, CEO of Lantmännen Unibake U.K.
