Dyson Farming has confirmed plans to expand its glasshouse strawberry production facility at Carrington, Lincolnshire. CambridgeHOK has again been chosen to build the second phase of the glasshouse.
Dyson Farming’s current glasshouse produces 750 tonnes of strawberries each year. Once fully operational, the new £11m investment will see the site able to grow fruit on more than a million strawberry plants concurrently, thanks to a 4.7ha extension.
Dyson Farming uses the latest technology and advanced growing systems to lengthen the British strawberry season by growing from early spring into late autumn, when British strawberries are in very short supply. The state-of-the-art site uses a swinging hanging gutter system, and heat and power from an adjacent anaerobic digestion plant, allowing the use of LED growing lights to support plant growth. In addition, it has a packhouse and cold store facilities, allowing Dyson Farming to pick, chill, pack and deliver fresh fruit to the customer as quickly as possible.
Work to build the extension has already started, with a target completion date and planting of the first strawberry plants scheduled for December. Patrick Harte, joint managing director of CambridgeHOK, commented, “We’re thrilled to be adding this significant extension to what is already an amazing facility for Dyson Farming in Lincolnshire. We have worked very closely with Dyson Farming since the initial build to refine and continually advance the growing environment, helping to increase efficiencies and expand the growing period, making the highest quality British-grown strawberries available for much longer on our supermarket shelves”.