Super-large grain store at St Nicholas Court Farms nears completion
Shufflebottom is delighted to share an exciting update to say that our work on a grain store development project of considerable size and scope at St Nicholas Court Farms, Birchington, Kent is nearing completion on time, and budget, as planned, for end spring 2025.
St Nicholas Court Farms is a super-large third-generation family-owned business that farms more than 3,500 ha. in the ‘garden of England’. Since its inception in 1959, it has grown and adapted positively to new technologies and today illustrates an operation with a strong interest in renewables. It owns and runs two anaerobic digestion (AD) plants and has multiple solar installations, central to its production methods. It grows a mix of energy crops (maize, whole crop rye/triticale and grass silage) that support its AD plants, as well as combinable crops (milling wheat, OSR, spring oats and peas).
The St Nicholas Court Farms Ltd brand predominantly farms out of one farm but covers a 15-mile radius out of Birchington. All grain from its contract-farmed businesses is stored centrally in modern grain storage. And that’s where Shufflebottom came into the story of its ongoing development.
An operation of this size demanded particular and exacting grain store solutions for such an important financial investment. In this case, it was for a steel-framed buildings’ manufacturer with the experience and expertise to design and deliver a building structure that could support the weight and pressure of 10,000 tonnes of grain. The project also demanded incorporating features such as ventilation, drying systems and concrete panels for added strength and flexibility. And our customer Jim Pace, Director at St Nicholas Court Farms, saw the inherent value in ours!
The result was that he placed a super-large order with us, and with 9.2 high grain walls, the building is one of the largest tonnage grain stores Shufflebottom has supplied in its history. We delivered a new, large propped portal-frame steel-framed grain store with a lean-to extension to this main building, plus an additional fan house lean-to attached to the gable end of the rear grain store building. Our buildings now cover a massive 1,765 sqm at St Nicholas Court Farms.
The new main grain store, built to agricultural specification and CE marked to Execution Class 2, measures 46m long x 33.16 wide x 10.36 to eaves with the adjoining lean-to extension measuring 17.25m long x 9m wide x 10.63m to eaves, with a 12.5-degree pitch and incorporating 8 no. 5.75m bays. The additional fan-house lean-to measures 33.18m long x 2.5m wide x 3.35m to eaves with a 12.5-degree pitch, incorporating 6 no. 5.53 bays. Shufflebottom also provided a cladding solution inclusive of fibre cement roofing sheets and single skin box profile sides.
To allow access to the building from an elevated area, we were instructed to install a stair tower at the front of the building and an external walkway. In addition, we installed a catwalk along the entire length of the building to provide access to the machinery inside, along with 3 no. cat ladders – 2 no. internally and 1 no. externally to the ladder tower at the rear of the building.
In conclusion, we’d just like to say Shufflebottom is super-proud of the value St Nicholas Court Farms saw in our brand and the investment he made in our product and our people for the first time. Thank you to Jim Pace our customer, and to our very own Dan Lacey, for managing the order and for outstanding customer service.
Shufflebottom has been fantastic to work with on our new grain store. The quality of the steelwork is excellent, and the team has been professional and efficient throughout. The build is progressing smoothly on-site, and we’re looking forward to seeing the finished structure.
Jim Pace, Director, St Nicholas Court Farms
REF: E15043