Going green in Blarney: sustainable packaging firm leases gold-standard building
Buildings Greener Gold Blarney A3 Hit And Standards Leed Park's Bers Going Latest And Growing
An international company specialising in sustainable packaging has just committed to lease a building set to be the first industrial building in Cork to be delivered to LEED gold certificate standards.
The local relocation deal is part of the major growth of the Blarney Business Park on Cork’s northside for developers JCD Group, who are set to bring the park to 750,000sq ft, making it one of the region’s very largest locations for business and logistics.
Founded over 100 years ago in the Netherlands, Paardekooper offers a wide range of biodegradable, compostable, and reusable packaging products with a strong focus on innovation and environmental responsibility.
It is taking the 27,000sq ft grade A block 9005 at Blarney, with 12m eaves, a signal LEED gold cert and A3 BER, on a lease at c €13 pst. Paardekooper is relocating from Boland Industrial Estate on the old Mallow Rd.
The new building is the first industrial building in Cork to be delivered to LEED gold certification and has many sustainability features including a highly energy-efficient building façade, low flow water usage, and the latest in lighting and electrical controls to minimise the buildings energy consumption.
Paardekooper general manager Alan Foley said the building “is both highly efficient from an environmental perspective and operationally due to its 12-metre clear internal height and the substantial yard area that comes with the building which aligns with our company ESG [environmental, social, and governance] goals.”
The company is due to move in March 2025, said JCD Group’s Denis Mulcahy, describing Paardekooper as “leaders in the provision of sustainable packaging solutions with a strong nationwide customer base and a long history of employment in the region”.
Since buying the part-developed Blarney Business Park just north of the city JCD Group (which is also now on site in Little Island’s Evergreen Business Park, delivering 250,000sq ft in four LEED gold blocks with 14m eaves) has added 410,000sq ft and will complete it in 2025 to some 750,000sq ft in total, adding four more LEED gold buildings of 10,000sq ft to 57,000sq ft in a c €20m further investment.
The occupier profile spans a variety of businesses, from transport and logistics to high-value manufacturing and showroom uses, with occupiers including Merck, DHL, doTERRA, Nisbets, Park Place Technologies, and FedEx.
Adding to the setting’s sustainable ethos, JCD pointed out that the Blarney Business Park is next to the planned Park & Ride and Stoneview railway station being progressed by Iarnród Éireann and the NTA, while Cork City Council has started work on new pedestrian links to Blarney village, with a new bus stop at the park’s entrance, as it is envisaged that the local bus route will be extended to the park in 2025.