Green investment company Oasthouse Ventures has unveiled further details of its plans for a 40 ha greenhouse complex near Braintree in Essex. The development, on the former Bradwell Quarry site, will be carried out in partnership with Wren Renewables, and the Indaver Integrated Waste Management Facility, which is under construction in the middle of the site and which will provide the finished facility, known as Rivenhall Greenhouse, with heat.
An existing former RAF hanger on the site will also be converted into a vertical farming facility producing 375 tonnes of leafy greens a year. According to Oasthouse Ventures, ‘The collaboration will harness waste heat, CO2, and on-site electricity generation to create an optimal environment for growing fresh produce, including tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers.’
Rivenhall Greenhouse will have the capacity to produce approximately 28,000 tonnes of vine tomatoes each year, or 7.1 per cent of the UK’s current tomato imports. With climate change and rising energy prices increasing the risks associated with importing food, the project hopes to improve the UK’s self-sufficiency in sustainable fresh produce.
The developers say that Rivenhall Greenhouse will create 420 full- and 80 part-time jobs and inject approximately £300 million into the local economy over two decades. Grow lights and blackout blinds will enable year-round production using the waste heat from the waste treatment facility. Construction could provide an additional £4.14 million to the local economy.
Oasthouse Ventures says more details will be released during a public consultation on the plans later this month, but that it will use the experience gained in developing its successful Low Carbon Farming projects in Bury St Edmunds and Norwich, (which repurpose heat from sewage treatment works) to delivery the low carbon project.
However, some local councillors have criticised the plans, which diverge from those originally approved for the waste treatment facility.