Our Projects

Our customer, Compton Beauchamp Estates, originally had lots of small farms with old infrastructure and wanted to consolidate everything into one location at a brand new greenfield site. BK Grain were asked to carry out this project from start to finish.

With old infrastructure and slower drying capacity at multiple locations, it was a logical solution to consolidate into one location and change to an on-floor drying system as opposed to a batch dryer located at each farm. At a brand new, greenfield site, BK Grain designed and built 2 new 6,000 tonne on floor drying stores using Harvest steel tunnels and Challow wood drying floors. This included 4 fan house buildings, each holding 2 x 45kwh fans and CHC modulating burners with a wireless Robydome temperature monitoring system to allow it to be monitored remotely. Each grain bunker also has its own stirring system, with a total of 8 stirrers provided. BK Grain project managed all on-site work, using in-house expertise for many elements including drainage and electrical installation. The end result has provided many immediate benefits for Compton Beauchamp Estates, including reduced electrical bills and increased efficiency. However, from a commercial perspective the improved grain storage capability means that they can now store it for longer, enabling them to make more economical selling decisions based on market conditions. In addition, the local villagers around the other stores have also benefited from reduced noise and disruption, so everyone is happy!

BK Grain were asked to build a brand new permanent cattle building for the Royal County of Berkshire Show that would provide the perfect environment to showcase the best cattle from across the country.

After a decade of discussions and planning, the 3,200 square metre building was completed and officially launched in time for the 2016 Royal County of Berkshire Show. The impressive building is 75 metres long, and at 3,200 square metres is large enough to house 450 cattle. It is the first permanent show building to be constructed at Newbury Showground and is designed to be multi-purpose, with a concrete floor suitable for both livestock and other uses. All electrical work on this project was carried out in-house, enabling BK to stay in control of the final project completion in time for the show, and the building was erected to EN1090-1 execution class 2 standard, which are the CE marking regulations used for agriculture and industrial use. Daren Bowyer, the chief executive officer of the Newbury and District Agricultural Society (NADAS), said he was delighted to finally see the building open and in use.

“It has been ten years in the making so it’ wonderful to finally see it finished. It is about future proofing the show and ensuring we continue to give the public access to see the best example of cattle from across the country. We wanted a permanent building to provide the best possible environment to showcase them. It is a simple concept but it adds so much to the show and really looks the part.”

The new facilities will also increase the opportunity for the Newbury and District Agricultural Society to generate income through hire of the Showground, which is important to the long-term viability of the showground and to the Society’s charitable work.

Fisherton Manor Farm in Warminster is an excellent example of a long term evolving relationship between BK Grain and a key customer as we have been working with Andrew Watson, the owner of Fisherton Manor Farm for over 15 years.

Fisherton Manor was originally just a small farm, but Andrew Watson has worked closely with BK over the years to upgrade and increase its storage capacity to c. 40,000 tonnes. Today, this site is running 24 hours a day 365 days a year as a commercial outlet and includes 6 hopper bottom wet storage silos with 300 tonne capacity, 120 tonnes per hour (TPH) intake to storage and 120 TPH ministry stamped industrial weigher to add to other equipment installed by BK including colour sorter, cleaner, gravity table and ventilation with temperature monitoring. In fact, BK has helped to reduce the electricity bill at Fisherton Manor by installing a sophisticated Robydome wireless monitoring system in conjunction with an in-house designed external fan system that means the store doesn’t need additional extractor fans to suck out the warm air circulating at the top of the building.

“Standard systems have fans that simply suck the heat out of the grain and then blow the warm air around the building, from where it needs to be extracted by another set of fans. We have installed fans outside the building linked to pedestals inside, so the heat is taken straight outside. It’s simple, effective and saves huge amounts of money. Meanwhile, it is all linked to a sophisticated monitoring system that gives the operator complete control.” Bill Bird, Managing Director – BK Grain

The project took just three months to complete, from receiving the initial planning permission to commissioning the store, including the new wet tip area, demonstrating BK’s ability to turn projects around extremely quickly and hit tight deadlines when necessary.