Included in the modifications were three blast freezers, which are capable of freezing 90t of seafood from 5o to -20o in 20 hours.
The 21,000m2 building also includes a spiral and tunnel freezer, temperature-controlled production area and a holding freezer with the capacity for up to 650 pallets.
Increase in workforce
The new site required a 25% increase in workforce, which will rise from 123 to 150 over the next few months as the new positions are filled.
Iain Spear, joint md of Coombe Fisheries, praised Somerset-based food construction firm ProjectLink for its work over the two-year period.
“Our initial brief was to find a way of modifying our existing site and ProjectLink have delivered fresh ideas that have doubled our processing capacity,” he said.
“They have used their knowledge and experience of the food industry to deliver effective solutions that modernise and increase productivity at every stage of seafood processing.”
Since forming in 1980, Coombe Fisheries has achieved consistent growth through developing and sustaining long-term partnerships with suppliers and customers, the firm said.
The site also includes welfare areas, offices and a boardroom.
Darren Williams, md at ProjectLink, said: “Seafood is of paramount importance to the south west economy and Coombe Fisheries is a key business within this industry.
‘Significant project’
“We’re proud to have played a part in their on-going success by delivering such a significant project for them, especially as it gave us the opportunity to design and build a facility that’s functional and innovative, as well as aesthetically pleasing.”
Approximately 65% of the firm’s £17M turnover is in fresh products, including king scallops, whelks, cuttlefish and sprat.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, frozen seafood firm Iglo Group called on the whole industry to unite to tackle unsustainable product, food waste and obesity.
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