Rok gets work rolling at Diageo bottling hall

Published on Sunday 6 June 2010 21:46

GROUNDWORK has started on the expansion of facilities at Leven, in Fife, that will lead to the closure of Diageo plants in Kilmarnock and Glasgow.

Construction management specialist ROK has about 30 people working on site preparation for the new 16,500 square metre bottling hall that will take production at the Fife facility to 30 million cases per year.

Permanent work on the hall and associated structures will begin in about a month.

The ROK contract forms a major part of the drinks group's 86 million investment in the area, with the new complex scheduled to become fully operational within two years.

Andy Mallice, ROK's managing director for Scotland, said up to 150 tradesmen would be employed during the course of the 64-week construction programme. Once completed, the project will create about 400 jobs within Diageo.

However, this will come at the expense of 700 posts at Diageo's bottling plant in Kilmarnock, and a further 200 jobs at the group's grain distillery in Port Dundas, Glasgow.

Though the Leven project has spelled gloom for some, Mallice said Diageo's investment programme had been "a very welcome boost" for the hard-pressed construction industry.

He said: "From our point of view, a client spending money at a time when it is pretty tough to find work is a very good thing."