Sweet future at new Haribo factory

Work on building a new £35m Haribo factory in Whitwood is expected to finish this week.
Vince Cable, former business secretary, pictured with Herwig Vennekens, managing director of Haribo, during a visit to the site in 2013.Vince Cable, former business secretary, pictured with Herwig Vennekens, managing director of Haribo, during a visit to the site in 2013.
Vince Cable, former business secretary, pictured with Herwig Vennekens, managing director of Haribo, during a visit to the site in 2013.

The new factory, on Whitwood Common Lane, is expected to create almost 300 jobs.

The building work, carried out by Wates Construction, is due to be complete tomorrow (Friday, May 15.)

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Haribo, which also has a factory in Pontefract town centre, will then begin installing machinery and hopes to open the new factory later this year.

Yvonne Dyal, Haribo human resources business partner, said: “The build phase of Haribo’s new factory in Castleford is set to complete on Friday May 15. After this date the team will start kitting out the new site.

“As part of the recruitment process, 75 local people have already been employed to work at the new site.

“We are actively recruiting at the moment with another 20 vacancies currently available.”

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The company, was awarded £6.4m from the government as part of the Regional Growth Fund in 2011 for the development of the former Pioneer Technologies site.

The new plant, which will produce around 48,000 tonnes of sweets per year, was built as the Pontefract factory was operating near to capacity.

The new factory will include a 30,700 sq ft three-storey manufacturing unit and a four-storey office.

The site will also have a steel-framed energy centre and sub-station, which will power the facility.

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Three hundred construction jobs were created to build the new site, which is just off the M62 at junction 31.

Haribo also employs 540 staff at the site on Front Street, in Pontefract.

For more information visit www.haribo.com