Premier Foods extension granted

Premier Foods has secured planning permission for a warehouse and factory extension at its Bury St Edmunds site to process ingredients for its Sharwood’s ethnic foods range and eliminate odour control problems.

Complaints from locals about the plant’s odour resulted in Premier replacing its pickled onion production lines with those of the Sharwood’s product range. The firm believes that the transfer of onion products will reduce these problems and has also engaged the services of noise analysis and odour control experts.

The new extension will contain pumps, tanks and mixers used for processing Sharwood’s ingredients. The building will be an enclosed unit with its own ventilation system, claimed Premier’s design consultant JD Associates. “The air extracted from within the building will be ducted to an air scrubber where all impurities and odours will be removed before being discharged into the atmosphere,” said the firm. “The building will be insulated to the same level as the present unit that will restrict noise escaping to outside.”

Meanwhile, the 1,250m2 warehouse will be constructed at the rear of the site. This will replace the open storage of a large number of drums and containers in the area. The wall cladding and roof sheeting will also be acoustically insulated to reduce noise levels.