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Glasshouses relocated and repurposed to provide quality growing facility for Guernsey charity

CambridgeHOK have been delighted to support a Guernsey charity in the relocation and transformation of two redundant glasshouses into a modern facility fit for decades of future use.

Described as the ‘largest recycling project ever completed’ on the island, the work was managed and overseen by our team for Guernsey’s Rural Occupational Workshop (GROW).

The charity provides training and a sheltered work environment in horticulture for people with various disabilities and an interest in a career associated to horticulture or related craft industries.

It grows and sells seasonal fruits and vegetables on site, both in its shop and café, as well as summer bedding, perennials, shrubs and hedging.

The project saw the two existing glasshouses carefully dismantled before being rebuilt at a new site with additional equipment including doors and motorised venting installed.

This ensured the facility will be able to continue to provide the ideal growing environment for both vegetables and ornamental plants well into the future.

Once complete, the entire glasshouse was professionally washed both inside and out, leaving the charity with a stunning facility that looked as good as new throughout.

The Venlo style glasshouse also provided GROW with a ‘veranda’ type selling space, allowing them to display a full range of plants for sale to the public.

Project completed in 14 weeks

The job was completed over a 14-week period, spilt into two phases for the dismantling and re-construction works. Dismantling works were completed in late 2022, with the reconstruction phase completed in April 2023.

Elliot Wrightson, Project Manager at CambridgeHOK, said: “This was a technically challenging project as can be expected when not only relocating two existing glasshouses, but also combining them into one.

“As a result, this was a highly rewarding scheme, and to see it come together successfully, providing a fantastic new facility for such a worthwhile charity in GROW was very satisfying both personally and for the whole project team”.

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