East Yorkshire horticultural specialist invests £5m in “huge high-tech” facility

East Yorkshire based hi-tech horticultural specialist CambridgeHOK has started construction of a “huge” new packhouse in a £5m project which will see a “hi-tech” facility built able to package and store millions of tomatoes and cucumbers per year.

As part of the project, the specialist business was tasked with designing and building the facility in Ely, Cambridgeshire, including foundations and civils, structural steelwork, external cladding, cold store panelling and the mechanical and electrical systems.

Its client, Fenland Glasshouse Limited, is a company owned by funds managed by Schroders Greencoat LLP. Over a three month period, 100 tonnes of steel, including trellis beams up to 16m long, had to be prepared by CambridgeHOK at its factory in Newport, before being delivered to the Cambridgeshire site in stages.

That work included 1,136 welded assemblies, and the need for steelwork to be sent to a specialist galvanisers with a 21m long bath, such is the length of steel used.

It is the largest Venlo style building ever manufactured at CambridgeHOK’s East Yorkshire factory, and the 3,600m2 packhouse is to be constructed ready for the first of the 2023 crop to be processed in March.

Fenland is the latest glasshouse project built using funds managed by Schroders Greencoat LLP and is one of the largest ever constructed in the UK with a footprint of over 22 hectares. It is also one of the most advanced, using LED lighting to accelerate growth whilst warming the structure using water-source heat pumps.

Louis Bradley, joint managing director of CambridgeHOK, commented: “We were of course extremely pleased to secure this project from a true leader in energy efficient glasshouse production, and ahead of competition from Dutch builders.

“This site grows tomatoes and cucumbers for UK consumers in high-tech greenhouses using sustainable energy and the new packhouse will house the latest packing technology, allowing thousands of fresh tomatoes and cucumbers to reach the shelves of British supermarkets each day, and throughout the year.

“This project is a great fit us as it allows all of the disciplines within our company to be involved in contributing to the true turnkey delivery.”

Production of the steelwork was overseen by CambridgeHOK’s factory manager Simon Goff. He added: “It has been a great project to oversee personally and it’s now over to our construction team to build over the coming months. After all the hard work in the factory it will be great to see the structure now begin take place.”

By Matthew Neville – Correspondent, Bdaily

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