Work on the UK headquarters of Suffolk-based global business Treatt, which will deliver jobs and secure investment in the area, is on track for completion this summer.
The development in Bury St Edmunds represents the most significant investment in the 130-year history of the company, which manufactures and supplies ingredients to the flavour, fragrance and consumer goods markets.
Treatt’s new flagship facility is located at Suffolk Park, one of 10 sites in New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership’s Space to Innovate Enterprise Zone.
The company says its new HQ will be a “striking, science-led facility” and a technical centre of excellence that will showcase its expertise and house 215 employees. It will include laboratories, manufacturing and distillation facilities, and a warehouse and dispatch centre.
One of the main aims of the site is to encourage customers to work even more collaboratively with the company and give employees an inspiring place to work.
Daemmon Reeve, Treatt’s Group CEO, said: “Our current site has served us well, but the new facility offers us a great opportunity to increase the efficiency of our UK operations, delivering optimum results for our customers.
“As one of the biggest employers on the area, we were keen to remain in Bury St Edmunds and are looking forward to providing a significantly improved working environment in which the Treatt community will flourish.”
Work has started on making the build weather-tight, with the roof now covering 60% of the building and cladding underway. It is expected to be completed by late this summer.
Enterprise Zone sites across Norfolk and Suffolk offer discounted business rates, simplified planning and access to superfast broadband to new and expanding businesses. The LEP aims to create 18,500 jobs in the 25-year lifetime of the zone, including 5,000 by 2021.
The Treatt development is within a 68-hectare extension to the Suffolk Business Park, which seeks to create a successful business environment for companies in the digital and new media, food and agriculture and high-value manufacturing clusters.
Chris Starkie, chief executive of New Anglia LEP, said: “It’s vitally important that we not only attract new investment to our region but retain businesses which provide significant employment and investment.
“Treatt’s decision to develop its new UK headquarters at Suffolk Park underlines the benefits which are on offer through our Enterprise Zones and represents a real vote of confidence in the local economy.”