Star Refrigeration has delivered new refrigeration equipment for NewCold’s expansion of their automated high bay refrigerated warehouse in Corby, Northamptonshire.

NewCold is one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing advanced automated warehouse and cold chain logistics companies. The temperature controlled storage services provider approached Star Refrigeration to assist with Phase 2 of a wider three-phase project intended to optimise performance and double the capacity of the cold store’s existing central ammonia refrigeration system.

Star Refrigeration has 29 years of experience in designing, manufacturing, installing, and maintaining cooling systems for high bay, automated warehouses. This journey began in 1996 with a project for Frigoscandia in Grimsby, and today, Star maintains refrigeration plants in six high bay warehouses across the UK.

Project Brief

Star Refrigeration was invited to tender to extend the refrigeration plant’s capacity and was awarded the project based on their extensive expertise in high bay cold storage solutions, proven track record of delivering energy-efficient ammonia refrigeration systems and strong commitment to safety and operational reliability.

NewCold’s Corby facility, its second in the UK and part of its growing global network, comprises a fully automated 41-metre-high cold storage with a footprint of 152 x 123 metres. The refrigerated areas are divided into dispatch, picking and the main high bay warehouse, with a maximum capacity of 150,000 pallets. NewCold’s highly automated facility uses cranes and conveyors to efficiently handle product movement.

The Phase 2 extension involved expanding the existing refrigeration plant with new equipment, delivering an additional 2,000 kW of extra cooling capacity for the high bay and 750 kW for the low bay refrigerated areas, along with 75,000 additional pallet spaces.

Initial Considerations

For over forty years, Star Refrigeration has partnered with high profile high bay cold store businesses, collaborating with in-house and external teams throughout the design, manufacture, installation, commissioning and maintenance phases. These close relationships have allowed Star to develop custom made solutions for its customers to ensure a consistent alignment with both business needs and industry best practices. This has been achieved by addressing specific operational needs while prioritising energy efficiency, reducing lifecycle costs, simplifying future maintenance routines, and maintaining health and safety standards.

Working in conjunction with NewCold’s engineering team, Star delivered a solution that met the customer’s specific refrigeration requirements. Initial site inspections and design meetings focused on adding cooling capacity, finding opportunities to further optimise the existing system and enhancing access for ongoing maintenance and service. Star carried out the installation while the site remained in operation 24/7.

The chosen locations for valve stations and electrical panels ensured that safety and maintenance access were maximised. This allowed the time spent by engineers in low-temperature, low-oxygen areas to be minimised as far as possible, keeping them safe and comfortable.

Additionally, off-site prefabrication of the ammonia pipework and drains enabled easier installation within the high-bay steelwork structure, eliminating the need for welding and insulation at heights.

A typical week

NewCold’s Corby facility is a hive of activity around the clock, handling an influx of product deliveries and dispatches from morning to night. On any given week, there is a high volume of product movement onto and off site, each with specific storage requirements and maximum permissible average temperatures.

In order to ensure the safe storage of these perishable goods, products are stored at a minimum temperature of
-22°C.

Looking to the future

With Phase 2 of the project successfully completed, Star has now begun collaborating with the NewCold team to implement Phase 3. This phase involves installing a new stand-alone, single-stage ammonia pump system for a cold store currently under construction adjacent to the main building.

Both the existing and planned installations will facilitate the continued expansion of NewCold’s facilities, whilst maintaining optimum energy and cost efficiencies.

Results

NewCold is now benefiting from the additional storage capacity and improved capabilities. The effective integration of new components into the existing refrigeration system has enabled NewCold to optimise energy consumption and minimise environmental impact.

The ambitious three-phase project to increase cold storage capacity and optimise system performance was vital to scaling up activities at NewCold’s Corby site, enabling it to continue serving its customers’ growing demands. Star Refrigeration have played a central role in helping the logistics company progress to the final stages.

Richard Russell, NewCold Managing Director United Kingdom, said,

Expanding our Corby facility was a critical step in scaling our operations to meet growing customer demand.

The success of Phase 2 hinged on close collaboration, and Star Refrigeration brought deep technical expertise and a practical, safety-first mindset to the table. Their ability to seamlessly integrate new capacity while optimising our existing system has allowed us to operate more efficiently, sustainably, and reliably. We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished together and look forward to continuing that momentum in the next phase.

The successful outcomes achieved through the partnership, built on the invaluable input and close working relationship between NewCold’s team and Star Refrigeration’s experts during the Phase 2 ammonia system installation, are continuing into the Phase 3 project, which is currently under development.

Star’s ongoing engineering support for the effective maintenance of the site will enable NewCold to focus fully on meeting their customers’ growing requirements.

Post contract support

Star Refrigeration’s Derby office will continue to provide ongoing service and maintenance support post-installation. The branch has 16 qualified ammonia refrigeration field engineers and a management, engineering, design, consultancy, and admin structure to support this.

Star Refrigeration’s capabilities also include 24/7 technical support from nine branches across the UK, offering a comprehensive range of services, from technical advice to training, and data-driven performance optimisation and monitoring solutions for refrigeration plant.