Case study
Modular extension for Waterperry Farm Shop
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“We knew we had a superior product, and we felt passionate about enabling customers to buy locally and have full traceability and provenance of the meat they buy.” The modular unit instantly created a fully kitted-out and hygienic butchery, kitchen & shop. The results were transformational, and the bespoke service enabled the unit to seamlessly adjoin the existing barn.”
William Selmes
Waterperry Farm Shop
In 2018 William & Lois Selmes at Waterperry Farm Shop in Oxfordshire took delivery of three Fisher UK units, to create a 10mtr x 9mtr farm shop to retail their farm’s home-produced beef & lamb.
The benefit of a modular unit back then was that it would be a lower cost option for their first jump into farm to fork retail, with the help of a LEADER grant, compared to a full barn conversion.
The units were joined together & integrated next to an existing portal frame barn on their farm. Following the installation external waney edge cladding was fitted to give it a more rustic appearance.
Their enterprise proved highly successful, so they contacted us again in 2021 to provide them with a significant extension.
Designs were drawn up for another two units, a 12.4mtr x 3.4mtr Butchery & Chiller & a 6.6mtr x 3.4mtr dispatch, storage & production unit.
The versatility of our modular buildings allows for the new units to be connected to the existing ones, creating one larger facility, encompassing the needs of their operation.
“Over the last few years, we have seen massive changes. The great feedback on our beef & lamb has been overwhelming and we needed space to grow. A home delivery service was on the agenda, but COVID lockdown fast forwarded that plan, and everything moved quickly.”
The bespoke extension created a new purpose-built cold room & prep space with rails to ease carcass handling, & offered a reconfiguration of the existing area which transformed the space to the new requirements of the business.
Lois Selmes added :
“Jon Fisher from Fisher UK worked with us throughout, to ensure the spec was exactly as we needed. He offered plenty of sound advice as it was our first experience of creating a butchery.
Will’s expertise is out on the farm, breeding & finishing the livestock; I had the retail & product background, but Jon’s butchery & game larder experience and advice helped us make the leap and made it much less daunting”.”
Built in our factory, the units were taken to site where our teams set about modifying the 2018 units to accommodate the new ones.
Butcher, Garry Heath, has been head butcher at the farm shop since its beginnings. He was also really impressed with the Fisher UK installation team, he said : “Richard & the team were so accommodating. They knew we couldn’t close the shop, & I needed to continue to prep & serve, so they provided practical & simple solutions & built the main unit off site to ensure there was minimal disruption. It was seamless – our customers were impressed too!”
Almost all works took place behind a screen which allowed for the farm shop to stay operational during the installation & kept onsite disruption to a minimum. Project manager Richard ensured that the work was completed at a convenient time to the farm shop, which remained open throughout.
As part of the contract we also built a new Butchery & Delicatessen serving area, within their existing building.
October 2021 saw them reveal this to the public on a busy & well received Open Day.
The newly expanded facility from Fisher UK has allowed Waterperry Farm Shop to take their business to the next level – take a look around here :