£14.5 million upgrade at Forestry England’s tree nursery to grow climate-resilient trees

Thursday 17 October 2024

£14.5 million upgrade at Forestry England’s tree nursery to grow climate-resilient trees 

Forestry England is spending around £14.5 million to upgrade its tree nursery near Delamere Forest, Cheshire, including building a brand-new seed extractory. This will produce seeds for millions of high-quality, UK grown, resilient trees in the decades ahead. The new facility, which is due to open in spring 2025, will be the largest in the UK, testing and processing up to four tonnes of tree seeds each year. It will replace Forestry England’s current seed extractory at Alice Holt Forest in Surrey which was built in 1964. Most of the funding for the upgrades is being made available from the Defra Nature for Climate Fund with Forestry England also contributing.

The project will boost Forestry England’s resilience in supplying suitable genetic material for woodland creation and regeneration for the rest of this century. In particular, the development will allow Forestry England to process more seed, and from a greater variety of tree species located in 13 specially planted orchards and 39 seed stands spread across the nation’s forests. Douglas fir, western red cedar and Norway spruce will be amongst the focus species because they are expected to grow well and become more prominent as sources of high-quality timber in England’s future climate conditions.

As well as processing seeds and growing trees for the nation’s forests, Forestry England also supplies other forestry organisations. In 2025, depending on the seed crops, they expect to supply around 450 kg of conifer seeds to the private sector as well as around 7.5 million trees for planting in the nation’s forests. Building a secure supply of high-quality tree seed from diverse species over the years ahead will significantly improve availability for UK nurseries and reduce the amount of seed imported from overseas. This will benefit the UK forestry sector as a whole and plays a major part in boosting diversity in timber producing tree species. 

The new seed extractory building will be equipped with the best available processing machinery alongside expanded areas for cold and dry seed storage that will enable several tonnes of seeds to be stored in the best conditions before germination and planting. 

As well as building the new seed extractory, Forestry England is creating a new miniplug growing facility at the nursery, which will more than double the capacity of the ‘standing out area’. This is the protected area where tree seedlings continue to grow after they leave the glasshouse and become acclimatised to outdoor conditions. This will complement the glasshouse which Forestry England opened in 2018 as its first major project to build resilience against changing weather patterns. This computer-controlled environment uses a combination of fans, shade screens and roof ventilation to regulate the temperature, humidity and light levels for the growing trees. Cell-grown trees can be planted all year round and so help in extending the planting season in the nation’s forests. Together, these tree nursery investments support Forestry England’s work growing, planting and caring for sustainable, wildlife-rich, productive forests across the country. 

Lead contractor Willmott Dixon has begun construction on the Cheshire site and recently completed the facility’s timber frame which covers almost 2,000m2. Adopting best practice construction principles, the facility has been sustainably designed to achieve excellent levels of environmental performance and will be net zero carbon in operation.

Horticultural engineering company, Cambridge HOK who designed and built the nursery’s glasshouse are building the new miniplug growing system. This will include a production line and irrigation system within the existing glasshouse operation and a new building for equipment, packing and dispatching trees ready to be planted. The specialist equipment and machinery are being provided by Swedish company, BCC.

Imam Sayyed, Forestry England Head of Plant and Seed Supply, said; 

This investment marks an exciting next phase in developing our forest nursery and seed processing operations. It’s vital we that we continue to grow millions of resilient trees which will be well suited to the climate we expect in the decades ahead and these new facilities will help us meet that challenge head-on.

The amount of tree seeds available to collect can dramatically fluctuate from year to year with peak years producing as much as four tonnes of tree seeds to store ready for processing and germinating. The new facility will give us the flexibility and storage we need to respond to each season’s supply of seeds.

We’re delighted to be working with Willmott Dixon and Cambridge HOK on these projects who share our commitment to building sustainably. Forestry England is a leading tree seed supplier to the public and private sector and this investment builds our capacity to deliver high quality service in the decades ahead.

Michael Poole-Sutherland, north west director at Willmott Dixon, said: 

We are delighted to be working again with Forestry England in Cheshire and creating a truly sustainable seed processing and nursery facility. Just as with the Delamere Forest visitor centre we completed in 2020, our experts are prioritising sustainable materials and construction methods. The building will be net zero carbon in operation and built using cross laminated timber (CLT) frame, as a sustainable alternative to steel, concrete and masonry. It will also feature solar PV panels, triple glazing, sustainable drainage solution and benefit from our extensive EnergySynergy performance monitoring process to reduce costs.

We share Forestry England’s passion for creating employment opportunities and skills in this community. We will create apprenticeships and engage local students through our bespoke Green Skills Academy, combining curriculum-enhancing practical, construction-based STEM and sustainability focussed lessons. Our team will be also leading and supporting local community projects, focussing on protecting nature and improving mental and physical wellbeing.

Jason Tether, Project Manager for CambridgeHOK, said:

We’re delighted to work with Forestry England on this innovative project. We have designed and are installing a specialist conveyor system which will allow the heavy containers of growing trees to be moved seamlessly between different zones during the growing cycle.

Having worked with Forestry England on the glasshouse growing system a few years ago, we’re pleased to create the best solution for this important expansion to their container and benching system and be part of increasing the capacity of their growing operation.