Member Article

Farm machinery giant moves with help from LHL Group

A leading European manufacturer and supplier of agricultural machinery, which operates throughout the UK, has relocated into £3m purpose-built premises in East Yorkshire with support from property and construction consultants, LHL Group.

German company, Grimme, which has a £45m UK turnover, has moved from Dunnington, York, into a larger 17,700 sq ft base in Market Weighton, comprising underfloor heating, a workshop with a gantry crane, stores, and three floors of offices together with a service yard and outbuildings for storage and servicing.

LHL Group, York, managed the entire scheme including demolition of existing, on-site farm buildings; architectural design, assisting with planning permission and managing the building contract awarded to Lindum Group, Lincoln. Work started in June 2020 and completed at the end of February.

Grimme, which has 95 UK staff and bases in Lincolnshire, Fife and Shropshire, as well as selling through a dealer network, mainly supplies arable and mixed farmers with machines for harvesting crops such as potatoes, sugar beet, onions, red beet, carrots, leeks, cabbage, chives and fennel. The company’s Market Weighton base will support customers throughout Yorkshire and Humber.

Factors behind Grimme’s recent growth include root crop growers modernizing their equipment by investing in new technologies, including a trend from trailed, to self-propelled, machinery because of adverse weather conditions due to a more unpredictable climate.

Fewer casual workers available for harvesting labour-intensive crops, such as cabbage or leaks, largely due to Brexit, has also stimulated mechanisation, while arable products market dynamics have led growers to specialise more, including investing in more sophisticated machinery.

Grimme UK managing director, Patrick Graf Grote, says “The new premises will enable us to stock far more parts with better organization; create greater efficiency by having more space to move equipment and be able to carry out repairs in a specially-designed workshop, rather than outside in the yard, while the overhead crane accelerates lifting tasks, and a new customer area allows us to provide a better visitor experience.

“We have been very well looked after by LHL. Their team has been extremely competent and efficient at delivering what we have wanted. The attention to detail and understanding of our requirements has been exceptional and, as a result, we are continuing to deal with them on other projects further afield.”

LHL Group associate director based in Hull, Daniel Bower, says: “We visited Grimme’s sites in Ireland and Germany as part of the design development to understand their workflow and requirements. The design was developed by our senior architectural technologist, Shane York, in conjunction with Grimme’s in-house architect to align with brand standards internationally.

“The project was delivered on time by principal contractor, Lindum Group, starting and completing on site during the pandemic with no disruptions to the programme.

“Grimme’s precise knowledge of their requirements for the new premises motivated us all. LHL provided a multi-disciplinary team at various stages of the project using our experience in delivering similar buildings to tight budgets and time schedules. It has been a pleasure to support them.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mike Clarke .