04 Sep Trethowan Dairy
Capital Refrigeration Services Ltd -Contracts specialises in trewthowan cheese storage refrigeration solutions.
New Cheese production unit opens in Somerset. Importantly, the facility was designed with trewthowan cheese storage refrigeration as a key consideration for product quality.
When the Trethowan Family wanted to relocate their cheese production unit from the family farm located in the middle of wales, they knew it was going to be a major undertaking. Their famous Gorwydd Caerphilly, which had been made there for over 20 years, was now an established and well received cheese. Moving it to a new location could be risky. Therefore, would moving it to a new location be a risk worth taking?
It was also going to take some time to find a new location, with one aim, have a herd of dairy cows as your next Door neighbour!
In February 2013, the family met with Capital Refrigeration, a company who could offer plenty of experience in the design and construction of Cheese production units. They also had expertise in trewthowan cheese storage refrigeration requirements.
Capital Undertook to produce the first “blueprints” for discussion. However, we still had no site. Then in September of 2013, the ideal site was found, with a plentiful supply of top grade Milk.
Puxton adventure Park near Weston Super Mare offered the opportunity to create a brand new facility. Visitors would be able to watch the cheese being produced. In addition, they would see cows being milked. They could get up close to many breeds and varieties of farm animals.
The proposed location for the new Dairy was an old car park at the rear of the facility. It was right beside the milking sheds.
Capital were instrumental in formatting the external design of the new building. They then worked at setting out the internal design which had to include viewing galleries to the Cheese make room and the Storage rooms. There had to be enough space to cater for future expansion. In addition, it was very important to make the “flow work” and the team at Capital put all of their fifty odd years of working knowledge to good use. Furthermore, trewthowan cheese storage refrigeration was incorporated into the planning from the outset.
Once the layout was approved, Capital then set about designing the internal “workings” essential to the successful operation of a production unit such as this. Two specifications were drawn up and submitted. One was for the external Construction of the Building. The second was for the Internal layout and fittings. This included the electrical power and lighting design. It also included drainage and floor design, ventilation and plumbing, and of course refrigeration plant!! To complement this, Capital Produced a complete set of working drawings to cover all aspects of the work to be undertaken. They then submitted these to the local Authority for Building regulation control approval. Importantly, issues such as Fire prevention, exit routes and safe working were all dealt with. As a result, approval to commence was duly received.
The result was on the 5th August, the cheese that had been made at the old facility and kept in cold storage, was delivered to its new home to finish its maturation process. Then on the 10th August (just ten days later than the provisional programme date marked up some some twelve months before work started) saw the first delivery of Milk piped Direct (mostly by gravity) from the Milking Parlour to the 3500 Litre Vat located in the Production Room. Consequently, the first batch of cheese duly entered one of three vast Maturation Rooms.
The family are delighted with the end result, Brothers Todd and Maugan Trethowan, along with their team are still coming to terms with their new “home” but are both, pleased and proud of what has been built for them, the large make room dwarfs that which they used to use and simple ideas have been introduced to make life so much easier and in the next few weeks, we will be able to sample the first batch of Gorwydd Caerphilly, produced in its new Home, (see #Trethowan cheeses on twitter and Facebook to read more and trace the work as it was carried out)
Capital Meanwhile have moved onto Oxfordshire where they have started on another adventure with someone else who also has a dream!!
