New brewery — Greene King - Bury St Edmunds Consultation

New brewery proposals

This page provides information about the proposals for our state-of-the-art brewery at Suffolk Business Park which was granted planning permission in January 2025.

It will be updated to include the latest progress once the construction process commences.

The Proposals

This significant investment being proposed for a new brewery demonstrates a long-term commitment to British brewing within our hometown of Bury St Edmunds.

Our brewery is a fundamental part of the Greene King business and the proposed arrangement of the new facility is being developed to provide flexibility for the long-term, enabling us to maximise utilisation and respond to changing consumer demands.

The brewery is intended to contain a brewhouse, brewing operations and ancillary offices along with a service yard, car parking and substantial areas of landscaping.

The service yard will allow the brewery to efficiently and effectively link into the facilities of the existing distribution centre adjacent to the site. It will be accessed via a controlled entrance with authorisation being granted through the site’s gatehouse.

The fence between existing service yard servicing the distribution centre will be removed to join with the new brewery.

Proposed site plan

Design Development

The initial proposals for the brewery have been developed from the approved scheme for this site alongside the specific requirements of Greene King.

The brewery will be built to a maximum height of 14 metres to the ridge to accommodate the functional uses within the building, including storage and fermentation tanks that require specific heights. This is in line with the previous planning consent which permitted a maximum building height of 16 metres.

Chimneys and flues form part of the brewing operation and are required to terminate at least 3m above the surrounding roof structure to discharge efficiently. These flues are to modern standards with a slim profile.

Proposed early view from Rougham Tower Avenue with young planting

Material palette

The proposed material palette has been designed to integrate with the surrounding buildings, including the Sybil Andrews Academy and sports centre building to the north of the site and the industrial units to the south.

The dual pitch of the brewery will create a prominent feature along Rougham Tower Avenue and will feature green cladding, echoing the brand identity, and including copper hues to reflect the internal brewing process.

Floor to roof glazing will be included which will provide an insight into the brewing process.

Landscaping

The landscaping strategy has been designed to reflect the previously approved outline planning application for the masterplan of the area.

The site will feature substantial areas of designed landscape around the site, including a minimum 10 metre landscape buffer, comprising native woodland and planting along the northern and eastern boundaries of the site. The landscape proposals will provide an attractive frontage to Rougham Tower Avenue and Fortress Way. This will help integrate the built form into the wider landscape framework and will support wildlife, enhancing the biodiversity of the site.

A minimum 3 metre landscape buffer zone will also be introduced along the western boundary of the site as per the approved outline masterplan.

Existing planting within the adjacent plots has been continued into the site, including tree planting, mixed native hedges and woodland planting. Sustainable drainage including an attenuation pond will be incorporated into the landscape design.

Precedent landscape images

Delivering a Sustainable and Connected New Facility

Greene King is committed to halving its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and the new brewery will deliver a significant reduction in water usage and energy consumption. Our proposed sustainability strategy will deliver:

A 50% reduction in the amount of water we use per pint

Renewable energy features

Modern processing technologies to maintain the quality of beer produced and improve energy efficiency

We are targeting a BREEAM Excellent rating to demonstrate how the brewery will reduce carbon emissions, improve whole life performance, support health and social benefits and enhance climate resilience and biodiversity.

Travel and Access

Access

The site will be served by the previously approved access of Fortress Way. This will include access for cars, HGVs, pedestrian and cyclists.

An additional pedestrian and cycle access will also be provided from Fortress Way to connect into the existing pedestrian and cycle facilities in this location and onward connections to the town centre.

Encouraging active travel methods

Employees will be strongly encouraged to use active travel methods where possible. Cycle parking provisions, showers and changing facilities are incorporated within the proposals. There is a comprehensive network of dedicated off road cycleways which forms part of the National Cycle Network.

The bus stops are located a short walk from the site on Rougham Tower Avenue. These will be served by a bus route extension to Suffolk Park in the future.

The distribution centre on Fortress Way and new brewery will provide just over 200 parking spaces for operational staff members (associated with the manufacturing and distribution processes). The layout of the site has been designed to provide flexibility and allow the efficient use of car parking spaces across the two plots.

Removing HGV traffic from the town centre

Co-locating the distribution centre and brewery will remove the need for vehicular trips on the wider network between the two site.

HGV’s associated with Greene King will be directed to use junction 45 of the A14, reducing the impact on Moreton Hall and Junction 44.

Existing HGV Traffic Routing Arrangements from Westgate Brewery

Proposed HGV Traffic Routing Arrangement for the new Brewery and Distribution Centre

The Site

Our Vision

The Westgate brewery in Bury St Edmunds has been the home of Greene King for over 200 years and has formed a key part of the town. We are proud to call Bury St Edmunds our home and we are committed to remaining within the town and connected to our rich heritage.

The historic nature of the existing site and constraints imposed by the town centre location have made it increasingly difficult in recent years to meet our sustainability goals.

A modern, state-of-the -art brewery would help us achieve our sustainability ambitions and deliver significant environmental benefits. Ultimately future proofing our ability to brew the highest quality beer for future generations and continue our role serving the community for many years to come.

Westgate brewery (Taken from Westgate Brewery, Bury St Edmunds: A Greene King Establishment | Greene King)

New Brewery CGI

Continue to support employment opportunities in Bury St Edmunds by retaining our brewing in the town following our investment in a new distribution centre in 2023.

Improve our brewing operations by creating connections to our adjacent distribution centre and reducing the number of HGVs in the town centre.

A £40m investment into a new brewery.

Create a modern, state-of-the-art new brewery to help drive our sustainability ambitions and deliver significant environmental benefits.

Benefits

This significant investment will deliver the following benefits:

The Proposed Site

The proposed site is located on the northern edge of the Suffolk Business Park extension, which is an allocated employment site in the West Suffolk Local Plan.

Site location plan

Planning Context

The extension to Suffolk Business Park was granted in outline planning permission in 2017 (DC/16/2825/OUT) for offices, research and development, light industrial, storage and distribution uses. This permission established the principle of development with detailed reserved matters applications for individual plots coming forward since the outline permission.

In January 2023, the proposed site (plot SP128) and neighbouring (plot SP77) received detailed planning permission for the construction of two new commercial buildings for light industrial and storage and distribution with associated infrastructure.

Several companies now occupy the surrounding plots as illustrated by the Masterplan image, including Greene King’s purpose-built distribution centre, set to open later this year and Treatt, another company local to the Town.

Suffolk Park Masterplan

As the new brewery does not fall within the uses approved under the outline permission, Greene King will be submitting a new full planning application for the brewery proposals at Plot 128. The scheme will seek, where possible, to observe and conform with the approved parameters for the plot and the principles established through the Outline and Reserved Matters Approvals such as scale, access and landscaping. The scheme will also seek to ensure that the proposals demonstrate a coordinated development which will not impact on the delivery of the neighbouring plot (plot SP77), which does not form part of the proposed planning application for the new brewery.

Why Suffolk Business Park Extension?

Delivering the new brewery within an established commercial location will enable us to retain our brewing operations within Bury St Edmunds for the long-term. The Park has the necessary infrastructure in place to enable the quick delivery of a new brewery with the necessary highway infrastructure in place to enable delivery of ingredients to the brewery with ease from the locality.

Later this year, we will open our new purpose-built distribution centre at Suffolk Business Park, which is adjacent to the site currently being proposed for the brewery. Our bottling plant at Old Speckled Hen Hall is also located to the west at Moreton Hall. By delivering the new brewery in this location, it will create direct access to the existing distribution centre and easy access to the bottling plant. This will result in a significant reduction in HGV movements and a more sustainable way of working.