Lakeland Dairies has confirmed that the co-operative has purchased offices on the Dublin Road in Cavan, which used to be home to Quinn Insurance.

The offices are located on the main roundabout junction adjacent to the nearby Cavan Innovation and Technology Centre and the Kilmore Hotel, a spokesperson for Lakeland Dairies told AgriLand.

It is hoped that the new offices will enable Lakeland Dairies to establish a corporate and administrative centre, “which will provide significant benefits to the co-op’s organisation and operations as it continues to grow its business”.

The location provides convenient access to the main N3/M3 motorway artery and other routes.

The site – which the spokesperson said “represents extremely good value for money and particularly when compared to a new build price” – was purchased for an undisclosed figure.

However, the purchase of the building does not involve new jobs, the spokesperson added.

It is understood that some alterations will be made to the premises and then some business and administrative staff will initially relocate to Cavan in late spring of this year.

The building is expected to house Lakeland’s staff operating in the corporate central functions of finance, IT and human resources.

It is currently being prepared and fitted out, including connection to the Lakeland Dairies information technology network – as well as the installation of a new enterprise and resource planning system, which will support business growth, the spokesperson added.

Having doubled the size of its business in the past eight years, it is hoped that this acquisition will provide a “major strategic advantage” to Lakeland Dairies as it drives through its current five-year growth plan to 2021.

Lakeland Dairies now processes over 1.2 billion litres of milk annually into a range of over 200 value-added dairy foodservice products and food ingredients, which it claims to export to 80 countries worldwide.

The co-operative serves the milk processing needs of over 2,400 dairy farmers across 15 counties on a cross-border basis.