Arla £179m Plant | Creating 100 Jobs

Innovation, functionality, and adaptability define our work across the logistics and industrial sectors. From food and fragrance to high-spec manufacturing, DLA’s industrial team designs buildings that respond to evolving technologies, safety, and wellbeing needs. Our industry clients include Unilever, Arla, Nestlé, Lidl, and Aldi.

We work collaboratively with developers, landlords, and tenants to shape industrial environments that optimise efficiency, flexibility, and resilience. From large-scale distribution hubs to highly technical food production facilities, our deep sector expertise ensures each project performs to its full potential.

Director Ben Gavaghan, who leads DLA’s Industry Team, explains:

“Innovation and understanding the whole production, packaging, distribution, and delivery process is key to what we do—especially in food production, where the ‘ingredients’ are always different. Just like making anything in the kitchen, timing is everything, and is key to understanding how time in the process affects profit. Industrial architecture must do more than house equipment; it must support people, processes, and performance. We believe good design is integral to every stage of the supply chain.”

This approach is exemplified in our long-standing relationship with Arla Foods Ltd. We’re incredibly proud to have recently secured planning permission and broken ground on Arla’s £179 million mozzarella production facility—its most significant UK investment in years. This state-of-the-art project will create over 100 jobs in a specialised, technologically advanced plant that’s purpose-built to:

• Substantially reduce production times
• Drive innovation and quality improvements
• Meet customer-specific demands

For nearly two years, DLA Architecture has collaborated closely with the wider design team to achieve this important milestone. Acting as Architect and Building Regulations Principal Designer, our specialist industrial team ensured that sustainability, hygiene, asset protection, and process integration were all central to the design.

Our deep sector knowledge supported an iterative process that delivered a building precisely meeting Arla’s rigorous specifications while ensuring commercial viability. The facility’s flexibility allows it to adapt to new production technologies, making it a future-proof asset that strengthens Arla’s UK operations.

This project underscores how we combine innovation, process understanding, and rigorous design to create industrial spaces that not only house production—but enhance it at every level.

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