Expanding production capacity at Fonterra Stanhope

With the help of Beca and several partner firms, Fonterra Australia doubled production capacity at its Stanhope cheese factory, a big effort in its push to make the most of growing demand for high quality Australian dairy products.

Fonterra, a market leader in Australia's $2 billion consumer cheese industry, was determined to rebuild its Stanhope Cheese plant in northern Victoria, following a devastating fire in December 2014.

Nicknamed 'Project Modena', we worked in close partnership with Aurecon and Babbage Consultants to deliver the design and construction management of this rebuild.

We coordinated the design phase, with our two project partners, of the new integrated facilities - a cheese plant, milk treatment plant and whey 2 plant.

We also provided expertise on process services, HV (High Voltage) and LV (Low Voltage) electrical services, water treatment services and the installation of refrigeration. As an additional service, we managed a five-week shutdown period in June/July 2018 when further upgrades were made to the completed facility.

The result is now a world-class cheese production plant, providing double the output of high-quality dairy products for both domestic and overseas consumption.