Horticulture firm picked to build £11m glasshouse expansion

Horticultural specialist CambridgeHOK has been chosen by Dyson Farming to build the 4.7 hectare second phase of its successful strawberry growing glasshouse in Lincolnshire.

The East Yorkshire firm oversaw the Dyson Farming’s original six-hectare glasshouse in 2020. The £11m investment will see the site able to grow fruits on more than a million strawberry plants at the same time once in full operation.

Dyson Farming’s current glasshouse, in Carrington, near Boston, already produces 750 tonnes of strawberries each year for British consumers.

It uses the latest technology and advanced growing systems to lengthen the British strawberry season by growing from early spring and into late autumn, when traditionally British strawberries are in very short supply. 

Patrick Harte, joint managing director of CambridgeHOK, said the new contract has been the result of the businesses working in partnership for the past four years on the original project.

“We’re thrilled to be adding this significant extension to what is already an amazing facility for Dyson Farming in Lincolnshire. There can be no better endorsement of the success of that project than the owners expanding on such a large scale just a few years later. It is an endorsement of the quality of our work in terms of planning, designing, and building the facility, but perhaps even more importantly, the quality of the fruit being grown by the Dyson Farming team.

“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.

“This extension will expand that supply network and ensure they are available for more customers in 2024.”

Construction of the new extension has begun, with a target completion date, and planting of the first strawberry plants, scheduled for December.

The state for the art site utilises a swinging hanging gutter system, heat and power from the adjacent AD Plant allowing the use of LED grow lights when needed 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 end customer as quickly as possible.