In the 64 acre project of SunSelect in Tehachapi, Larssen represented the British Columbia-based greenhouse grower in the extensive greenhouse realization. It’s a good example of the capabilities of Larssen's company; serving as an independent consultant between a greenhouse grower and a group of service suppliers, Larssen was involved as the owner’s representative in the contracting stage.
"This is our most common position in greenhouse projects that we do," explained Larssen. "In this role we not only review the design of the greenhouse project, but we are also following and monitoring the actual construction. We are present in weekly construction meetings and conduct monthly inspections on site during the construction. In additon, we serve as bank monitors for the lenders and we can provide third-party reviews."
With this service, Larssen takes complete care of a greenhouse project or expansion, unburdens the grower or investor and continuously monitors the activities of every contractor. "As we are serving totally independent from all suppliers, we are able to ensure that the grower /owner gets a true picture of the costs involved. Moreover, we are working as if we are on the greenhouse grower or investors payroll."
But technical consulting and engineering are not the only skills of Larssen Ltd. The company is also involved in reviews at investment level. When a grower or investor approaches Larssen with a plan to start a new greenhouse project or expansion, Larssen will review the business plan to ensure that they will realize a viable project, taking all aspects into account, from marketing and location, to labor and production costs. "There are a lot of different aspects that we cover."
For more than a decade now, Thomas Larssen has served the North American greenhouse industry with his technical engineering consultancy. After gaining much experience in the European greenhouse industry, he moved over and founded Larssen Ltd Greenhouse Engineers in Canada in 2002, providing clients with 30 years of greenhouse knowledge. Since then they have been involved in many projects in the U.S. and Canada, but Larssen is also involved in other parts of the world.
"We still are involved in many projects in our home market in Scandinavia, but in fact we realize projects all over the world. For example, recently we were hired by Driscolls for the realization of their large scale greenhouse project in Mexico. Furthermore we are active in building the most modern and sophisticated greenhouses for many different crops. At this moment, Larssen consults for greenhouses using the highest technological equipment for tomatoes, peppers, propagation, lettuce, baby greens, algae and cannabis.”
For more information:
Larssen Ltd. Greenhouse Engineering
Thomas Larssen
www.l-ge.com