Pharmaceutical multi-national MSD is planning another significant expansion of its Ballydine plant near Carrick-on-Suir with the company submitting a planning application seeking permission to build a new three-storey manufacturing building.
MSD Ballydine Ireland’s planning application for the proposed 3,266sqm building described as a “pilot plant manufacturing facility” was lodged with Tipperary County Council on Tuesday, March 30, The Nationalist can reveal.
Tipperary County Council has indicated it will decide on May 24 whether to approve, reject or seek further information on the planning application.
According to the application, the pilot plant manufacturing facility will be 20.75m in height and will be linked to the existing 03 manufacturing building.
Permission is sought to alter the elevations of the 03 factory building to accommodate the new pilot plant.
It’s proposed to locate it south of a new 6,400sqm Research & Development and Formulation building currently under construction.
The planning application says the development will also include a proposed equipment yard housing plant, equipment and an abatement system, vents and equipment housing including a covered waste tank.
It seeks modifications to existing underground utilities including a surface water attenuation tank and underground storage tanks.
The application requests permission to extend a temporary contractors’ compound, increase temporary parking for contractors and develop a second compound adjacent to the new plant.
Permission is also sought for modifications to the layout of existing internal roads, site lighting, pipe bridges, links, bunded tanks and supporting structures, and a truck staging area.
And the application requests permission for extra accessible car parking spaces and electrical charge points.
MSD points out in the application that the proposed development is for an activity for which a licence under Part IV of the Environmental Protection Agency Act 1992 (as amended by the Protection of the Environment Act 2003) is required.
It says an Environmental Impact Assessment Report (EIAR) and a Natura Impact Statement (NIS) accompany the planning application.
The planning application concludes by outlining that this is a site to which the Chemicals Act (Control of Major Accident Hazards Involving Dangerous Substances) Regulations 2015 (S.I. 209 of 2015) applies.
The submission of this planning application comes just seven months after MSD secured planning permission to build the new three-storey Research & Development and Formulation building along with a total of 110 new car parking spaces at its Ballydine plant.
Approximately 220 workers are involved in the construction of the R&D and Formulation building and its development will result in MSD hiring approximately 20 new staff at Ballydine in the areas of product development, operations and quality.
MSD Ballydine, which is located off the N24 between Kilsheelan and Carrick-on-Suir, already employs 500 people.
Source: www.tipperarylive.ie
