Hubbard Multi-Compressor Pack Chills the UK’s Northernmost Meat Processing Plant

Caithness Beef and Lamb Ltd, based in Mid Keiss, Wick – Caithness, the UK’s most northerly meat processing plant, have installed a Hubbard-Zanotti Multi Compressor Pack in their brand new, 1300 square metre Abattoir and Meat Processing facility.

The all-new facility serves Scotland’s Highland areas, which are famous for their pedigree Aberdeen-Angus herds and are to become home to a new breed of cross Wagyu (A traditional black Japanese cattle breed, which produces a very distinctive marbled beef and which commands the world’s highest prices) and Aberdeen-Angus which it is intended will be processed at the facility in the future.

The Hubbard-Zanotti Multi Compressor pack was installed and commissioned by Automatic Cooling Engineers (ACE) of Glasgow. The pack has a capacity of 280KW and is designed to service 185sq metres of both chill rooms and cold storage areas. The facility is located in the small village of Mid Keiss, 110 miles north of Inverness, and faces onto the North Sea making the specification of a chilling system that is both reliable and able to withstand harsh weather conditions critical.

Kevin McKenzie, Director of ACE Refrigeration explains; “Caithness Beef and Lamb asked us to assist in specifying a high energy efficiency chilling solution in late 2007, after careful consideration and discussion concerning the technical specification relevant to such a remote location with Hubbard Products a design was produced by David Allan of ACE Refrigeration and presented to our client. With construction of the facility continuing through the winter of 2007/8 we were able to order the building of the pack in May 2008 and move on site for installation by September. The completed installation was commissioned in time for the harsh winter weather and has performed faultlessly since it was commissioned”.

He continues: “Hubbard’s design and manufacturing expertise in high efficiency Multi-Compressor Packs was particularly relevant for this project and as an existing user of Hubbard Condensing Units and Scroll Compressor Packs we had no qualms in working with them to specify a rugged and robust system that would deliver against our clients particular requirements”.

The Multi-Compressor Pack specification included four 40HP semi-hermetic compressors mounted on a rack chassis with a built in control panel incorporating a Dixell electronic controller.

Dougie Stoddart, Commercial Director at Hubbard Products comments: “Our underlying design ethic drives us to design the best solution for the end-user; while considering the contractors requirements we always strive to offer the most energy efficient solution available. With a location such as Mid Keiss, durability of the refrigeration plant is key to the success of the whole operation and we are pleased that ACE Refrigeration and Caithness Beef and Lamb chose the Hubbard-Zanotti unit for optimum performance in extreme conditions to ensure the high quality of their premium products”.