Accolade relaunches production site

By Lisa Riley

Published: 17 August, 2020

Accolade Wines has renamed its drinks manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution facility in Bristol to The Park.

As part of the rebrand, the £100m state-of-the art site is receiving additional investment to increase its capabilities, including canning and carbonation facilities, alongside a new dedicated contract packaging team.

The Park has also built on its sustainability credentials by becoming a carbon neutral facility. This follows the installation of wind turbines in 2019 that contribute to the use of 100% renewable and CO2 neutral electricity.

Additional green initiatives include achieving zero waste to landfill and water conservation management and a packaging strategy.

With the ability to package over 30m 9L cases per year and with available capacity, Accolade Wines said The Park’s ambition was to offer a “complete drinks solution for the European sector”.

While The Park and its 400 employees will continue to support Accolade Wines European operations, the rebrand and additional investment would “support increased production, offer greater flexibility to meet customers’ demands and welcome new alcoholic and drinks partners to the business”, said the company.

The changes represented an “exciting new chapter for the site”, said Robert Foye, CEO, Accolade Wines,

“It will differentiate us from our competitors and build synergies with customers and retailers to benefit the whole supply chain. The Park’s core principles remain innovation, outstanding quality and sustainability, and this rebrand gives us the foundations to grow the business in the years to come,” he said.

Richard Lloyd, general supply manager, The Park, added: “Our vision is to transform the drinks industry with agile, bespoke solutions utilising our scale and sustainable footprint. This is a strategic shift for The Park as it moves towards a more independent role within the business. Capacity is scarce in the UK and we have space to support customers with volume flexibility due to seasonal, promotional or market spikes, such as those witnessed during Covid-19.

“We now have an exciting opportunity to find new partners that will allow us to develop synergies and leverage the scale and expertise offered by the site, which will support the efficiency and green credentials of the wider industry.”

The Park has already secured two new five-year contracts in the last month as a result of the relaunch, including Benchmark Drinks.

In April, Accolade revelaed it had collaborated with Garçon Wines, inventor of the 750ml flattened wine bottle, to introduce the environmentally friendly bottles across several of its brands, also investing in a new bottling line as part of the partnership.

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