State of the art Coca Cola production and distribution plant

The Knockmore site in Lisburn was one of sixty potential sites across the island of Ireland evaluated by Coca Cola, for its suitability to provide mineral water, logistics and development scale.

The site had a 30 year history of industrial zoning prior to 1998 but had subsequently been zoned as greenbelt prior to the submission of the planning application in 2005.

Coca Cola needed to secure a timely permission to meet with its business development requirements. An inability to secure planning approval could have led to a relocation of the operation to another site in the Republic of Ireland with a potential loss of 250 local jobs in the Lisburn area.

Issues Encountered

• Proposal contrary to zoning and planning policy for site
• Traffic and road abandonment issues
• Pre-application consultation with Ministers, Invest NI, Lisburn City Council and elected representatives
• Detailed pre-application discussions with DOE Planning

Our Involvement

With Bill Morrison leading the Planning consultancy, we were engaged to build support for the planning application and coordinate stakeholder consultation with key decision makers and elected representatives.

A number of bi-lateral meetings took place before a formal presentation to Lisburn Council immediately prior to submission of the planning application. Planning approval was secured in 7 months following submission.