Refrigeration specialist adds value through project management

REFRIGERATION is hot business,
with a growing number of fullscale
refrigeration projects for the
perishables industry keeping Cape
Town-based GEA Project solutions busy
at the ‘cold’ face.
“Demand from the fruit industry
is thriving with continual orders for
refrigerated atmosphere rooms (RA)
and controlled atmosphere rooms
(CA),” says Ilse van der Merwe,
manager of GEA project solutions,
part of refrigeration specialists Grenco
Group. “We are also doing a number of
forced air-cooling tunnels, process area
cooling and de-greening rooms.”
The GEA installation management
team custom designs and optimises
the entire facility including the civil
engineering and structural steelwork,
insulated panelling and electrical
reticulation. Van der Merwe adds: “The
refrigeration
unit is designed to optimise the capital
cost against the operating cost.”
The company has also installed a
number of flake ice bunkers for the
fishery industry and airline chillers
for the poultry industry. “Cold means
fresh,” says Van der Merwe. “Our cold
stores go down beyond -20°C from
±0°C, which means they can freeze
meat and poultry, or keep fruit and veg,
flowers and wine ready for export.
“A single point solution offers
reduced project management fees
and GEA Project Solutions does not
charge any consultant’s fee on the
refrigeration portion of the project,
which normally represents one third of
a project’s value,” says Van der Merwe.