Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk has secured planning permission for a major new filling and packaging facility at Grange Castle Business Park West, Clondalkin, to meet rapidly increasing demand for its respective diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wigoby. I am asking Dublin County Council. .
The company claims that the proposed manufacturing campus for the new generation of life-saving medicines will be expanded over 147,000 square meters and create up to 1,100 new permanent jobs, including 600 in production and 500 in administration. .
Novo Nordisk also announced it will hire up to 2,000 workers during the construction phase.
The project includes three filling units, two assembly and packaging buildings, one warehouse, a five-story administration building, a laboratory, a store and a 551-space parking garage.
Novo Nordisk said it plans to build up to 16 assembly and packaging lines with storage facilities for 24,000 pallets.
Novo Nordisk paid a reported €51 million to South Dublin County Council last summer to acquire the 85-acre site near Peamount Hospital and Newcastle Golf Center.
However, two local families living in Newcastle have written to the local authority raising concerns about the scale of the project and the impact it will have on quality of life, properties and the surrounding area.
They cited concerns about noise, odor, air pollution and oversight, as well as concerns that the development would reduce the value of their homes.
“These concerns exist during both the construction phase and the planned operation phase of the power plant,” they added.
The families claimed they would also experience a “deterioration in the quality of the landscape” as the land changes from its current “green field” status.
Novo Nordisk said it was considering Ireland as a base to expand its manufacturing capacity in Europe.
The company said the planned factory at Grange Castle would “deliver new and innovative medicines for diabetes and other serious chronic diseases such as obesity, rare blood and rare endocrine diseases”.
Last year, the Danish company overtook French luxury group LVMH to become Europe's most valuable listed company, on the back of rising sales from Ozempic and Wigovy.
If approved, Novo Nordisk expects the new factory to be completed by 2027, with an estimated construction period of approximately 27 months, followed by an additional nine months for process and automation systems and clean room validation. We believe it will be fully operational.
The group claims the proposed development is a “thoroughly considered proposal that fully complies with local and regional planning policy and targets zero entry”.
Novo Nordisk consultants said the planned facility is designed to house two of the company's medicines and products.
In December 2023, the company acquired the former Elan pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Athlone from Irish company Alkermes for 84.2 million euros.
The company operates in 80 countries and employs 59,000 global staff, including approximately 50 people in Suntory's marketing facilities.
A ruling on the planning application is expected to be made by South Dublin County Council by the end of February, but any decision could be appealed to An Bold Pleanála.
