Global animal nutrition and health company Alltech is hosting its agri-industry open day in its new €10m European headquarters this morning.

Located on the outskirts of Dunboyne in Co Meath, the new facility employs 102 people with the capacity to treble this figure over the coming years.

Over the past three decades, Alltech has developed and manufactured a range of natural feed supplements, designed to improve animal performance.

Speaking recently to AgriLand, Alltech’s Kevin Tuck, the man in charge of the new headquarters, said.“The main aim of our recent expansion is to support the future growth of Alltech in Europe that currently represents our Number One sales region.

He continued: “The strong growth of Alltech Europe required a 50 per cent growth in staffing levels and so the new facility will facilitate this expanding team. Upstairs in our brand new research laboratory we have some of the most advanced and specialised research and development (R&D) facilities in the world.

“In fact some of the main roles conducted in the Dunboyne facility are R&D, marketing, EU regulations, sales, administration, finance, customer service, Q&A and information services.”

The majority of the employees in the new facility hail from the County Meath area (60 per cent) with the remainder (40 per cent) coming from County Dublin.

According to Tuck, neighbouring businesses will also benefit from the expansion: including hotels, shops and restaurants.

The building in Dunboyne was originally a meat-rendering factory and was opened as an Alltech facility by the then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in 1999 to house the company’s research, sales, marketing and quality teams.

Today the facility serves as Alltech’s second global bioscience centre, the original centre being in our headquarters in the US.

Upon entering the building visitors will notice the great attention to detail that has been put in place. Specifically, the artwork throughout the building was crafted by local artist Roisin Fitzpatrick and reflects designs from Newgrange. To reflect  Alltech’s  research and science traditions, the new building is also host to a sculpture representing an atom.

AgriLand will be reporting live from Alltech’s new European headquarters.

Pictured Alltech’s Kevin Tuck