The frozen foods supermarket chain is creating the new cold store warehouse near its headquarters in Cumbernauld, and has enlisted the specialist services of ISD Solutions.

The distribution centre, featuring a floor area of more than 17,000 square metres in total, will be divided into three parts: a -22o degrees Celsius freezer, a +4o degrees Celsius chiller, and an ambient storage area.

Requiring 29,000 square metres of Kingspan Composite Panel, the eco-friendly cold store will feature 15 percent ambient rooflight coverage to supply the warehouse with natural light, and a one-hour fireproof separation wall as a passive fire protection measure. 

Gloucester-based ISD Solutions commenced work on the North Lanarkshire project towards the end of April, and expects to finish within 20 weeks, in early September 2019.

It is not the first time that the two companies have worked together. In 2014, ISD Solutions created a freezer, chiller and dry storage distribution centre of similar size at a Farmfoods site in Avonmouth near Bristol, close to ISD’s home in Gloucester.

The Cumbernauld project marks the latest in a series of works that ISD Solutions have undertaken in Scotland, and the company is keen to win more business there. To this end, ISD Solutions has recently appointed Martin Paul to head up a new Glasgow-based office, from which he will be responsible for Scottish business development and project oversight.

Richard Bowden, director of ISD Solutions’ Special Projects division, said: “We are pleased to be working with Farmfoods again and are looking forward to completing this project for them in Scotland.

“This work in Cumbernauld is a significant project for us, with a considerable amount of composite panel to install with precision and competence. With the roof lighting and firewall installations requiring further technical expertise, it’s an exciting scheme to be involved with. 

“The work we did for Farmfoods at Avonmouth was five years ago now and we are pleased to see that minimal maintenance has been required since then. We are confident that our work will be of a similarly high standard and that we’re going to give Farmfoods a cold store which will serve them well for many years to come.”

ISD Solutions employs over 100 staff, trading across the UK and internationally, and has recently reorganised its leadership in anticipation of significant growth over coming years. It is building a growing reputation as the UK’s premier total envelope supplier, as a one-stop-shop which offers a 25-year guarantee on all products and installations.

Farmfoods has its headquarters in Cumbernauld, right next to the new distribution centre, which will also house its new offices. The family-owned retailer employs close to 4,000 staff and runs more than 300 shops, offering a range of branded and value frozen, grocery and every day products, throughout the UK.

Willie Scanlon, head of property development at Farmfoods, said: “For almost 40 years Farmfoods has had offices and a distribution depot in Cumbernauld. I’ve had the good fortune to have been a member of the team for most of that time.

“As a business we’ve simply outgrown the current setup here and it has become operationally inefficient. This new development will see us secure and greatly improve our future here for many more decades. 

“This is one of the largest projects we’ve undertaken and we chose to partner with ISD having previously worked together during the construction of our Bristol depot in 2014. It brings me great personal satisfaction to be involved in such a huge project and having the right team around us is critical.”