The CambridgeHOK team was approached by Berry Farming in Arundel, West Sussex as they had developed a new growing system for strawberries and were in need of a bespoke glasshouse designing and building.
"A key aspect of the challenge presented to us was to ensure the light coming into the glasshouse was able to travel as far as possible and reach all the plants on a tiered growing system. It also needed to be ensured that light could be evenly distributed across the site. This was achieved through the use of specialist glazing," the team with CambridgeHOK says.
The construction division completed all building civils, including access roads, laydown areas, drainage, and foundations for the site heat storage tank. A gas boiler, running off Liquid Natural Gas due to the site’s location being too far away from existing supply lines, was built and sited, generating heat to be stored in the day and used at night, and to redistribute vaporized liquid CO2 back into the glasshouse to aid the growing process.
Due to the nature of the growing method used, a much higher volume of water was required due to the increased periods of watering required, so therefore it was essential that the site was able to recycle water to ensure it can be reused.
CambridgeHOK installed an irrigation, filtration, and sterilization system to allow rainwater to be harvested and collected from boreholes, and then flushed through the entire system and reused.
The results
Having taken the order to design and build the facility, the 5.2 hectares glasshouse was taken from concept to completion and fully operational within eight months, with the first crop of strawberries planted.
David Moore, Director of Berry Farming, said “we selected CambridgeHOK to develop this facility in partnership with us as we were aware of their reputation as leaders in the industry and for being innovative pioneers themselves when it comes to indoor growing facilities, processes, and technologies. It was very much been a partnership from day one, and we were pleased with their input, expertise, and support.”
For more information:
CambridgeHOK
Wallingfen Park, 236 Main Road
Newport, Brough, East Yorkshire
HU15 2RH, United Kingdom
Tel: +44(0)1430 449440
info@cambridgeglasshouse.co.uk
www.cambridgehok.co.uk