Ireland: Boortmalt seek planning permission to expand malting plant in Athy

With a tradition on the site that goes back 177 years, the owners of a malting plant in Athy have sought planning permission to extend the facility and increase annual output by 20,000 tonnes, Kildare Nationalist reported on April 24.

Presently, the Boortmalt plant on Upper William Street is producing 140,000 tonnes of malt for the brewing and distilling industries from a variety of grains – predominantly barley – but with this extension will be able to provide their customers with a 100 per cent Irish supply chain, from seed, to barley, to malt.

The plan is to demolish the existing canteen and two 14m high silos and replace them with a 23m wide germination vessel that will stand 10m high and two new barley intake silos 23m high.

The Belgian owners are also hoping to make alterations to the malt screen building, as originally approved in a previous application in 2018, to include screening equipment, grain elevators and conveyor gantries.

For staff, there will be a single-storey unit built of 208sqm to house offices and a canteen and 14 new car parking spaces.

The firm also wishes to expand the existing on-site wastewater treatment facilities, including the construction of two wastewater treatment buildings 10m high, to include internal wastewater processing tanks and screening equipment, two balance tanks extending to existing elevated dewatering press structure and installation of associated equipment within the existing wastewater treatment plant.

A natural impact statement (NIS) will be submitted with the application to the planning authority and the NIS will be available for inspection or purchase at a fee not exceeding the reasonable cost of making a copy during office hours at the offices of the planning authority.

Minch Malt has been in continuous operation on the site since 1847 and was taken over by the Antwerp-based Boortmalt in 2010.

A decision is expected from the council within six weeks.

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