Branston continues Lincolnshire investment
08 June 2009
Branston has announced it is to invest a further £500,000 in its Lincolnshire facility just three months after revealing plans for a new £3.5 million factory on the same site. The company is to grow its latest 'state of art cold store’ by a further 2,200 tonnes. The storage facility, which can already hold 9,000 tonnes of potatoes – the equivalent to one potato serving for everyone in the UK – is being extended. Once building work is completed in the autumn, the new store will be able to over 11,000 tonnes or 77 million potatoes.
Dr David Nelson, Branston’s Field Director is overseeing the project and says that several of its features are unique in the British potato sector: “There isn’t another cold store like this in the country,” he says. “We have designed the most environmentally friendly units in the UK. We believe that environmental best practice is critical to our success – on top of generous insulation and glycol refrigeration to reduce use of refrigerants, the two new stores both adopt the ‘passive up-flow’ system which was trialled as part of the original store development. In addition, energy use should be further reduced by incorporating a simple ambient air chilling facility which utilises existing fan capacity with only the addition of automatically controlled louvres. This means we can take advantage of ambient air within a range of -3 to +2oC to aid cooling.
Branston has embarked on the extension as it seeks to cater for increased demand and also minimise food miles by having as many potatoes as possible stored at its Lincoln site. As well as going directly to retailers, the potatoes stored in Branston’s new cold store will also be used in the firm’s new Prepared factory.
Construction work is being undertaken by Trent Valley. The unusual ‘passive up flow’ cooling system was specified by IMA Cooling Systems and relies on quenching natural convection currents and build up of temperatures with over 75% less fan energy than most traditional long term cooling systems. Less fan power put in, means less heat to take out, creating a double saving as energy usage is concerned.