THE NEW backers of Waterford Crystal plan to start production in Waterford city centre by the beginning of next June.
While the now-closed Waterford Wedgwood company employed some 800 people at peak production, its replacement firm is expected to employ up to 100 people. The new company WWRD (Waterford Wedgwood Royal Doulton), trading as Waterford Prestige Company, will move back into the city from the huge campus in Kilbarry.
The company, which will be wholly-owned by KPS, the New York-based venture capital company that acquired Waterford Wedgwood on its closure earlier this year, will be located in city council property on the Mall.
This is the site of the former ESB office building and adjacent outbuildings and a bonded store.
Plans for reviving production were announced in the city last month. But fresh details of the business plan have now emerged.
The company is understood to be capitalised at between €4 and €5 million. The manufacturing element of the new operation is expected to produce about 40,000 pieces each year at the top end of the market, items such as trophies, signature pieces and presentation pieces.
A tank furnace is to be installed and the whole “gamut of crystal production from blowing to cutting, to engraving and sculpting” will be in place, according to city manager Michael Walsh.
Initially, 40 to 50 craftsmen are to be employed on the manufacturing end, while the other employees will be involved in the visitor centre.
The centre, which was a major tourist focus of the previous company’s operation, is moving into the office premises of the ESB building and the venture will be an integral part of the city councils plan for the development of a prestige sector of the city centre, based on the original Viking/Danish triangular city which is over 1,000 years’ old. The customer services, new product development and IT and purchasing departments, located in Cleaboy, will be retained. The site of the new development is temporary.
An iconic building is to be designed for the riverfront to accommodate the new Waterford Crystal plant but, this is three to four years down the road, said Waterford Chamber of Commerce president Paul McDaid.
“It really is a case that if we didn’t do this now there would be absolutely nothing for tourists next season. We had been told by the tour operators that tourists simply would not come to Waterford. Manufacturing won’t be huge; it’s tourism-based. It’s the start of a focus on tourism in Waterford. Also, being in the city centre, it will bring footfall into the city.”
Mr Walsh said the Mall, a sweeping prestige street, was going to be restored to its former glory along with a number of historic buildings. Mr Walsh, with a local committee comprised of local business people, unions and local representatives, has been in negotiations with KPS over several months.
The new venture is to be promoted at the World Travel Market in London tomorrow and a major onslaught on the US market is to begin shortly. Some 150,000 tourists are expected to visit the new factory and visitor centre next year. The former Waterford Crystal factory probably will be sold as a development site.
Twelve former workers are taking a test case against the Government to have EU pension legislation put in place to cover the former workers.