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Bickfords needed to convert a section of their existing production facility into a high-care ISO 8 clean room with positive pressure and HEPA filtration to meet the evolving demands of the site. The project involved significant new equipment installations, so heat load calculations had to be precise from the outset to account for the incoming machinery.
The Challenge
The scope covered the full design and construction of a controlled clean room environment within the existing building. This included a material entry lock (MEL), personnel entry lock (PEL), change room and wash area, and a positive pressure central chamber for raw ingredient transfer to mixing tanks and hoppers. From there, product moved through the airlock PEL into the holding warehouse for dispatch.
The project also required substantial external works, including a new plant deck and gantry to house mechanical plant platforms, compressor racks, switchboards, MCC panels, and BMS controls. All of this was designed above the main walkway and integrated around existing infrastructure, including sugar silos already on site.
The Result
Heighton designed the clean room environment to maintain strict positive pressure throughout the production zone while allowing practical, logical product flow from raw ingredient entry through to dispatch. The external mechanical platform was purpose-built to fit within the constraints of the existing building envelope, keeping critical services accessible without disrupting the operational layout below.
Heat load calculations were completed early to ensure the HVAC and refrigeration design could handle both the clean room requirements and the thermal output of the new equipment. Getting the mechanical design right upfront meant avoiding the kind of problems that tend to surface later when it’s treated as an afterthought.
