Maple Leaf Foods announces $660 million poultry facility

Hixson, WalterFedy to collaborate on engineering and architecture services

Maple Leaf Foods has announced it will build a $660 million fresh poultry facility in London, Ontario, Canada.

Construction is expected to begin on the 640,000-sq.-ft. facility in spring of 2019, with a targeted start-up date of the second quarter of 2021. Hixson Architecture & Engineering will serve as the lead firm to design and engineer the facility, while Ontario-based WalterFedy will collaborate on architecture and engineering services in Canada.

The new facility “will enable Maple Leaf to meet the steadily growing consumer demand for premium, value-added poultry products, and strengthen Canada's food system," says Michael H. McCain, President and CEO of Maple Leaf Foods. In addition, says McCain, this will be “the largest single-site investment ever made in the Canadian food sector.”

“For 70 years, Hixson has been working with companies throughout North America to design and engineer facilities that can stand the test of time while meeting our clients’ needs for food safety, employee safety, and productivity,” says Greg Hammond, President and CEO of Hixson. “We are proud to have been selected by Maple Leaf Foods to design this historic project.”

“We are excited to be partnering with an organization like Hixson,” says Paul Reitzel, CEO of WalterFedy. “They have a long history of doing excellent work in the food industry. Our firms have the same commitment to values and talented professionals that deliver meaningful and functional projects to our clients.”

To read more about this project, including its economic impacts, visit: https://www.mapleleaffoods.com/news/maple-leaf-foods-to-construct-world-class-value-added-poultry-facility-in-london-ontario/

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Casey Laughman is the former Editor in Chief of Food Engineering magazine. He has almost two decades’ experience as a writer and editor for mainstream and trade publications. He spent several years as a writer and editor for two news services before becoming the editor of a legal publication and managing editor of a trade magazine that covered the commercial facilities market.