The UK’s supplier of fresh potatoes will soon have a new state-of-the-art and environmentally-friendly preparation facility, thanks to Chalcroft Construction.

Chalcroft, which has a Food Projects Division, is currently in the process of constructing a new £2.3m temperature controlled production facility at Branston Ltd’s Lincolnshire site that will house offices, intake and raw materials, assembly, storage, high-care packing and despatch facilities.

Branston will move its prepared and convenience potato-based products operation from rented premises into the new facility, with the creation of up to 60 new skilled jobs.

Branston Managing Director Graeme Beattie commented: “This is a really exciting time for Branston and it has been good to work with a construction company that fully understands our exacting requirements.

“The outlook for prepared potatoes is good, with the prices of alternatives like rice and pasta rising quickly over the past year and the range of healthy, ready-to-use potato-based products increasing.

“The new premises will enable us to relocate our prepared business and give plenty of room for future expansion.”

The steel structure is currently being erected by Chalcroft. During the initial excavation work, Chalcroft was able to reuse the extracted limestone by processing it through a mechanical crusher on site so that it could be utilised as hardcore.

Internally, the new facility will include a range of low-energy, high-efficiency technologies, such as sun tubes to bring natural light into staff amenity areas and heat will be recovered from chiller units to provide hot water for hand basins.

Chalcroft will be using its innovative method of insulating from the outside in – which involves insulated panels being used as part of the external envelope – while a wood fuelled boiler will be used to provide heating.

Water for the facility will be drawn from a new borehole that is being driven next to the building.

Andrew Hardy, from Chalcroft, commented: “Working in partnership with the Branston team will result in state-of-the-art facilities that will prove to be a major part of Branston’s continuing success and ability to remain innovative.”