150 additional jobs for the former Molex facility in Shannon have been projected while a tenant for what was previously the Avara site is to be announced in the second half of this year.
As first reported by The Clare Echo, Aerogen’s intentions to create a manufacturing operation of the Molex facility will result in up to 100 jobs.
UMR Group, a Mid-West based specialist company in site revitalization and metals recycling, has now projected a further 150 additional jobs are on the horizon. Headquartered in Limerick, UMR Group says it is in advanced discussions with another significant employer to create a further 150 jobs by year end at the 125,000sq ft facility.
Additionally, the company expects to be announcing a tenant for the former AVARA Pharmaceuticals site, also in Shannon, in the second half of the year, leading to additional job creation.
On Friday, Molex closed its doors ending a forty year era in the Shannon Free Zone. 500 jobs were lost when it announced in October 2019 its intention to shut.
Avara employed up to 114 people when the High Court in July 2019 ordered that the company be wound down after it emerged that it was insolvent with losses to the tune of €9.5m and was unable to pay its workers. Efforts to source a replacement buyer between the IDA and United Meals proved unsuccessful.
Jointly owned by the Hegarty and Donlan families, UMR Group have said the outcome of additional posts at Molex in transforming a redundant industrial facility is a positive.
Tony Donlan of UMR Group outlined, “We have a long history with the site as members of our team have been working with Molex as its environmental contractor for forty years. We knew the site inside out and recognized its potential”.
He revealed that the company is in advanced talks with another client to move on site. “We expect to have contracts signed shortly with a second company and for them to move onto site by early in the second half of the year with the creation of 150 jobs. On top of that, we are well advanced in terms of occupancy at the AVARA site, also in Shannon. We are currently reconfiguring the site for manufacturing and are very confident about its future, with an announcement expected in the second half of the year.
“Individually and collectively this will be a huge boost to Shannon and, moreover, for the people who will be employed here. It will further validate UMR’s capacity and track record for transitioning former industrial sites into viable employment centers. It’s also a vote of confidence in the Mid-West as an attractive location for inward investment,” Tony said.
