THECOMMERCIALGREENHOUSEGROWER
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FEBRUARY 2017
20
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T
ECHNOLOGY
company also claims it is
50%more efficient than
traditional glasshouse
lighting. The company has
alsomanaged to effectively
control the heat-which gives
off aminimum amount as a
result of continuous water-
cooling.
Cambridge HOK has also
recently installed one of the
first vertical farms in the UK.
The company was
responsible for the design
and construction of first
GrowUp urban farm in
London. GrowUp has 6,000
square feet of growing
space and produces 20,000
kg of salad and herb crops.
“This is the future,” saysMr
Hibbs. “We expect vertical
farming to start to increase
at a fast rate in the UK,” he
adds.
CambridgeHOK has been
working on a project with
Philips to create amodern
vertical farming research
centre. The Philips
GrowWise City Farming
Research Centre at the High
Tech Campus in Eindhoven,
is conducting research into
tailor-made LED light,
growth and climate recipe
combinations to find the
optimum productionmodel.
The new facility spans
234m2 of floor area and
features four-layered
mechanised planting racks
in each of its eight climate
rooms. Each layer has
Philips GreenPower LEDs
installed, that contain blue,
red and far red light which
are designed to be fully
customisable for the crops
and the producer’s
requirements. Each climate
room has full temperature,
humidification,
dehumidification as well as
CO
2
and variable air
exchange control.
Vertical farmingwill no
doubt have an important role
to play in UK horticulture. As
well as the Cambridge HOK
projects, companies like
Logiqs BV have already
developed an automated
system for vertical farming
calledGreen Cube and for
smaller scale niche farming
indoors, Certhon has a
containerised unit that is fully
packaged and able to be
used anywhere, even at
short notice.
Priva is developing a
strategy to help support UK
growers who are keen to
Priva’sKompano in action, the cuttingmodule ismounted on a robot arm. (Insert picture).
Oreon has developed the
OreonGrow Light to help
create ‘solutions for an
optimal, more efficient and
innovative’ lightingmethod.
The light has an output of
~1590Mol/s and the
Acomputerisedpallet handling system fora vertical farm.
