IN Brief:
- 2 Sisters Food Group has begun preparatory utility works for its proposed £100 million replacement poultry processing facility at Coupar Angus.
- The work will prepare the site for future gas and electricity supplies, with activity expected to continue until early November.
- The wider project has planning permission in principle, but detailed approval and further public-sector support remain outstanding.
2 Sisters Food Group has begun preparatory infrastructure works for its proposed £100 million poultry processing facility at Coupar Angus, Perthshire, marking a further stage in plans to replace its existing Scottish manufacturing operation.
Contractors are preparing the development site for future gas and electricity supplies, with the utility works expected to continue until early November 2026. Temporary traffic lights are due to be introduced from 14 October while the programme is carried out.
The activity follows planning permission in principle granted by Perth and Kinross Council in 2024. The company has yet to submit the detailed planning application for the new processing facility, however, and the start of utility works should not be confused with commencement of the main factory construction programme.
The proposed development would establish a modern poultry processing complex on land adjoining the existing operation on George Street. Once the replacement facility is completed, the current plant would be demolished and its site made available for other uses, including smaller business premises and up to 49 homes.
The existing factory employs more than 1,000 people and occupies an important position in Scotland’s poultry processing sector. Proposals presented during the planning process envisaged safeguarding those jobs and creating approximately 350 additional positions, although the employment increase remains dependent on delivery of the wider investment.
John Nicholson, site director at 2 Sisters Food Group Coupar Angus, described the utility programme as a milestone in the company’s plans to establish a replacement production facility. He also acknowledged that further requirements needed to be resolved, including public-sector support necessary to enable the broader development.
The works are being undertaken on land intended to accommodate the future factory, allowing preparations for incoming services to advance while the larger project continues through its development arrangements. Representatives of electricity network company SSEN and contractor Arctech attended the start of works alongside Nicholson and members of the existing factory workforce.
Providing the necessary gas and electrical infrastructure is one of the physical requirements for the proposed plant, but the current programme does not establish the final equipment configuration or production capacity. The company has not disclosed the facility’s expected connected electrical load, energy requirements or machinery suppliers.
The investment was originally presented as a means of replacing an ageing production site while maintaining poultry processing capacity in Scotland. The proposed location alongside the existing factory provides a basis for planning the development without immediately removing the established operation, although the company has not published a final construction sequence or detailed arrangements for transferring production between the two facilities.
That transition will depend on subsequent approvals and investment decisions. The 2024 planning decision established support for the principle of development, but further submissions are required to determine the detailed design and other matters before the principal factory works can proceed.
The project’s financing has also remained under consideration. Earlier in 2026, Perth and Kinross Council identified £5 million in Tay Cities Region Deal funding allocated to the development, recognising the significance of the proposed facility to employment and regional food production.
That allocation represents a portion of the proposed £100 million programme rather than confirmation that the complete funding package has been secured. Nicholson’s latest comments indicate that additional public-sector backing is still regarded as necessary to progress the broader scheme.
The Tay Cities Region Deal supports economic development projects across Angus, Dundee, Fife, and Perth and Kinross. Coupar Angus was among five projects proposed for a further phase of funding earlier this year, alongside investments elsewhere in the region covering infrastructure and economic development.
The project’s planned employment and production benefits therefore remain prospective. Neither the start of utility works nor the earlier planning approval establishes that the replacement factory is fully funded, that construction contracts have been awarded or that recruitment for the additional positions has begun.
During the 2024 planning process, the company’s agent indicated an ambition to have the new factory operational within approximately three years. An updated commissioning date has not been confirmed in the October announcement, and the outstanding planning and financing requirements prevent that earlier ambition from being treated as a fixed construction timetable.
The immediate programme will continue preparing the site for future utility connections through the autumn. A detailed planning application, confirmation of the remaining funding arrangements and mobilisation of the principal building works will provide firmer evidence of when the replacement poultry plant can move into construction.
