Dairy processor Cotteswold plans for the next five to 20 years

The dairy processes around 200,000 litres of milk a day and has been at the same site for nearly 50 years.

Vitruvius, the construction management firm for the job, recommended the dairy first looked at master planning the whole site to ensure its property plans would meet its business objectives for the next five to 20 years.

Keep production going​

Rather than bolting on a couple of buildings, as initially planned, it was agreed to move the dairy’s existing lorry park to a new site to free-up enough space to allow for the development work and, importantly, allow the dairy to keep production going throughout each construction phase.

Cotteswold Dairy was founded in 1938 by Harry Workman starting with a 30 gallon milk round. It relocated to new premises and changed its name to Cotteswold Dairy in 1943, relocating again to its current site at Northway Lane in Tewkesbury in 1969.

Today, the business is managed by his grandson George Workman and employs more than 300 staff, taking milk for processing and subsequent distribution from local dairy farms around its premises.

Employs more than 300 staff​

Its main depot and head office is in Tewkesbury, but it also has three depots in north Wales, Shrewsbury and Cheltenham. It takes milk from 26 farms in Gloucestershire, 11 in Worcestershire, three in Hereford, nine in Wales and one in Warwickshire.

As well as delivering a variety of milk, cream, cheese and bread products to people’s doorsteps, Cotteswold also supplies to wholesale, retail – including Cotteswold Free Range Milk launched in the Mid-counties Co-Op – and foodservice outlets