Chesterfield business starts work on multi-million pound venture for former Coalite plant

The multi-million pound venture, Project Horizon, signals a new chapter for the Chesterfield-based company – but will see the closure of five of the firm’s existing sites.

The development will replace four sites in Chesterfield (offices and warehouses on the Sheepbridge trading estate and a premises on Sheffield Road) and one in Ilkeston.

It is not known yet if staff from these sites will be redeployed.

A spokesman for Peak Pharmacy added it was “too early to say”.

The new Pharmacy Service Centre will process millions of prescriptions per year for patients. It will handle prescriptions and despatch medicines for the firm’s 150 community pharmacies across England.

The facility will use state-of-the-art robots and automated systems to support staff handling over 400,000 medicines and other prescribed items every month.

Prescriptions will be assembled for individual patients, then either delivered to local pharmacies for collection the next day, or direct to patients’ homes.

The old Coalite site, which has lain derelict since 2004, has been dubbed an eyesore and health hazard by residents.

In 2019 plans to build 660 homes alongside a raft of businesses on the site were scrapped. Work has been taking place over the past few years to clear the site for the huge business park.

Regeneration specialists St Francis Group confirmed a remediation programme has been completed on the site.

Managing director Joe Cattee, whose parents Peter and Jane founded Peak Pharmacy in 1981, said: “These are ambitious plans for our company, staff and customers – in the face of a rapidly changing pharmacy landscape.

“This will be transformational for us. We’re investing now to future-proof our business, so that we can continue to provide great local customer service which means so much to us.”

The new hub is due to open in April next year. It will house up to 100 staff, with the potential to grow into a 24-hour operation in future.

Peak Pharmacy’s move is in response to caps in Government funding, which mean that pharmacy businesses are having to be more efficient in how they handle prescriptions.

They say centralising the process will also free up local pharmacists and staff to provide other services for patients, such as vaccinations, blood pressure checks and healthy living advice.

Mr Cattee added: “We’re inviting other pharmacies to contact us now, so we can show them how our hub can benefit them too.”

The company is investing more than £20m on Project Horizon, a significant proportion of which will be spent on automation technology. Around 40 per cent of all prescriptions can be processed in this way.

The project will replace five smaller existing Peak Pharmacy sites in Derbyshire.

The new hub, will cover 113,000 square feet and will include a canteen and leisure facilities.