Norco plans to rebuild its ice-cream factory in Lismore

Australian dairy co-operative Norco has announced plans to rebuild its heritage-listed, Lismore-based ice-cream factory that was left devastated and out of commission following the floods in February.

The factory rebuild is supported by a $34.7 million grant from the federal and NSW Government’s Anchor Business Support Program, and bolstered by an $11 million grant that remains outstanding from the 2019 Regional Growth Fund (RGF); a program that was delayed due to COVID-19 and then paused following the floods. Norco will also be co-contributing to the rebuild with over $59 million (complying with the Anchor Business Support Grant guidelines).

The new factory will be built to be more flood-proof than ever before. Mezzanine floors and other permanent structures will see critical site services and the majority of other key equipment lifted to enable resilience up to 15.0 m. Other equipment will be safeguarded by physical flood barriers and also quick decoupling technology, which will assist the site defending a 15.0 m flood. On-site power generation and pumps will also be used to mitigate water ingress in other key areas of the facility.

Three of the four ice-cream production lines that were previously operational will be reinstated, as well as an additional (fourth) ice-cream line that was in the process of being installed with support from the RGF Program. However, due to funding limitations, the Rollo ice water line and the plastics operation will not recommence.

Norco Chief Executive Michael Hampson said: “We know how important this factory and its operations are to this region and we’ve always been committed to do everything we can, within our means, to see a future for the facility.

“While we’re extremely grateful for the government funding we’ve been allocated, it is known that it fell short of what we needed for a complete rebuild — and this is because of the scale of damage incurred and the total cost of the floods to the co-operative, which is still estimated to be well over $100 million with this revised project.

“Ideally, in order to employ as many local people as possible, we’d be rebuilding a facility to the same scale as what we were working towards with the previous upgrade (pre-floods). However, to fit budgetary constraints, we’ve had to make some changes to the rebuild plan.”

From left to right: Adrian Kings, Warren Gallagher, Michael Hampson, Glenn Macintosh, Hon. Kevin Hogan and Steven Krieg.

A skeleton workforce (of approximately 16) has remained actively employed to help drive the reconstruction efforts, which are already underway.

The new flood-resistant factory is expected to be fully operational by the end of June 2023.

“When operations do recommence, we look forward to welcoming back our workforce and hold visions of creating more employment and business opportunities for the broader community over the coming years,” Hampson said.

Image credit: iStock.com/AlinaYudina