Vertical Farm – Lydney

We were delighted to be appointed as HVAC consultants by Jones Food Company (JFC), one of Europe’s leading builders and operators of indoor vertical farms, for their latest and largest facility at Lydney, Gloucestershire.

The site, JFC2, is one of the world’s largest and most advanced, boasting a growing space equivalent to 70 tennis courts and went live in June 2023 with production of herbs and salads steadily increasing since.

The unique nature of indoor vertical farming presents a set of challenges requiring specialised HVAC solutions. Maintaining precise environmental conditions, including temperature, humidity, and air quality, crucial for optimising crop growth and yield, whilst also ensuring energy usage is minimised.

We supported JFC in developing outline designs for the low energy HVAC systems to meet the above brief, also carrying out air flow modelling (using our inhouse CFD capability) to ensure air movement within the grow room would be sufficient to prevent stagnation, crucial to ensure plant health.

Since the site became operational, we’ve continued to actively support JFC and their HVAC contractor (Brooktherm Refrigeration) by overseeing system performance and refining the HVAC software algorithms to ensure the site operates with optimal growing conditions while minimizing energy consumption.