ASHRIDGE COMPLETES CONTRACT FOR MUSHROOM INDUSTRY

Thatcham-based civil engineering and construction contractor Ashridge has recently completed building a state-of-the-art mushroom compost facility at Leckford, Stockbridge, Hampshire.

The multi-million pound contract was for Tunnel Tech, exclusive suppliers of organic compost used to grow mushrooms for all the major UK supermarkets.

This was the third major contract for Ashridge with Tunnel Tech, the UK’s leading producer of specialised compost for the commercial mushroom growing industry. In 2009, Ashridge constructed Tunnel Tech’s pioneering mushroom compost facility at Bawtry in Yorkshire, recognised as the most modern phase I composting facility in the UK.

At the 15-acre site on the John Lewis Partnership-owned Leckford Estate, the pasteurisation tunnels constructed by Ashridge provide a completely new compost production facility that utilises the environmentally friendly method where straw is recycled rather than burnt.

Ashridge have constructed 9 concrete pasteurisation and spawn run tunnels each 4.5 metres high 4 metres wide and 42 metres long.  The tunnels total 1400m² with a further 630m² of handling halls all fully enclosed in a steel framed building plus a further 2000 m² of external hardstanding area with integral drainage.