Rowse Honey refines, blends and packages 30 varieties of honey for retail customers, and also produces a range of spreads and dessert sauces.
These products are processed at Rowse Honey's purpose-built factory in Wallingford, Oxfordshire. When land adjacent to the processing plant became available, the company had the opportunity to build its own warehouse and new offices. Beard won the building contract following a competitive tender.
The warehouse structure comprises a steel portal frame with pad foundations and a floor slab constructed in situ. The walls are of fairface blockwork. Composite roof and wall cladding provides insulation.
The office building features an exposed external steel tubular frame. Attractive brises soleils provide shade on the sunny side of the building. The timber frame is clad in cedar weather boarding. The floors are formed from pre-cast concrete planks.
The frameless glass entrance, set on a plinth of natural stone, has a single ply membrane roof. A coded access system provides extra security.
Beard was also responsible for external landscaping and the construction of the block-paved car park, which provides soakaway drainage. Beard also co-ordinated all services and mechanical and electrical installation.
Challenges and solutions
Contamination from oil-based products stored at an adjacent site was found in the excavations and had to be removed and disposed of without further impact on the environment.
