A coffee company hit by a huge fire at its Dartford factory plans to get a temporary facility approved with the hopes of getting employees back working next month.

Firefighters were called to the UCC factory on the Riverside Industrial Estate on October 11 to deal with a blaze which took a number of days to extinguish.

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An investigation was soon launched into the incident as the company, which reports sales of over £2 billion worldwide, scrambled to minimise disruption to customers.

A view of the fire at UCC Coffee Dartford last October

An initial planning application has since been lodged with the council to approve a temporary warehouse on the existing site which would be expected to remain until December this year.

A supporting statement which was submitted on behalf of UCC states it is currently in the design phase for a more permanent facility for the site and aims to submit the application for that by February 15.

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It also notes that, if approved, works to construct the new facility would be expected to begin by September.

Facilities manager for the Dartford branch, Stuart Brand, also explains a temporary structure will allow them to re-hire employees left out of work due to the fire which ripped through the building.

"The number of employees has been reduced because of the fire and the disruption caused to our supply chain.

"If we can get approval for the temporary structures, we hope to be able to re-employ some roles," he wrote.

The Dartford plant at one point received one per cent of the globe's coffee exports every year, equating to 9,000 tonnes, or one billion cups of coffee.