Once the home of the biggest employer in the southeast, the 29-acre facility is now being offered for sale or lease

ONE OF the best known manufacturing plants in the southeast, the extensive Braun complex, on 29 acres at the entrance to Carlow town, is to be offered for sale or for lease through estate agents Jones Lang LaSalle.

A price of €8 million is being sought for the entire complex. However, if a buyer is not found, the agency will consider leasing the facility at an annual rent of €800,000.

The German personal-care products company announced over a year ago that it was to close its manufacturing operation in Carlow, with a loss of 160 jobs. A further 100 workers were transferred to its Newbridge plant.

Braun, which was best known for its electrical shavers, was one of the first major foreign investors in Ireland. It established the plant in Carlow in 1974.

At one point the factory employed 1,500 people, making it the biggest employer in the southeast.

The mainly single-storey building extends to 21,367sq m (230,000sq ft) and is exceptionally well located on the Dublin Road in Carlow. It is only a few minutes’ drive from the intersection of the N80 with the newly opened M9 Dublin-Waterford motorway.

Nigel Healy of Jones Lang LaSalle said it was irrelevant what value would have been placed on the industrial complex a few years ago “as the world has now changed and the property is priced to sell”.

Most of the buildings are of precast concrete or steel frame construction and have been well maintained.

They have clear internal height ranging from four to six metres, while the warehouse area has an eaves height of 21 metres.

“Fundamentally, it is a decent, clean manufacturing facility and, because there is a unique combination of interconnectivity and independence of the buildings, a new owner-occupier could satisfy their own space requirements while generating rental income from any unused space,” said Healy.

Braun is owned by the US multinational company Procter Gamble.