Flooring

The GroDome floor designs incorporate the following options:

• Power floated concrete
• Screed finish
• Suspended PIR insulated floors
• Non-slip aluminium checker plate
• Durable vinyl flooring

All Unigro floor designs feature safety, hygiene and containment as mandatory criteria.

Bio-security

As part of the detailed design for any high specification containment requirements (BL1 –BL4), the GroDome includes the following features:

• Robust unique sealed glazing system
• Liquid waste and drainage containment
• Air filtration of supply and extract air
• Insect exclusion
• ± Air pressure to chambers, lobbies and corridors
• Building  management system warnings of any failures

Unigro will provide site specific designs to meet your specific research requirements.

Supplementary lighting

The value of simulating natural lighting within greenhouse structures for research or commercial production is universally accepted and Unigro incorporate the latest lighting systems within its designs and provide the following:

• Pre-installation computerised lighting array plans
• Adjustable height level options
• Building management controlled lighting systems
• Variable range of options to meet your specific requirements and simulate varied lighting conditions, including; highpressure sodium, fluorescent and infra red.

Unigro will design your supplementary lighting scheme to incorporate the latest energy saving technology.

Air handling

The airhandling systems within the GroDome are key to the precise control of the sealed facility and the Unigro designs incorporate various options to meet its clients’ specific requirements and include:

• Variable air volume units
• Filtration to provide a variety of requirements up to Hepa filtration
• Cooling using chilled water coils
• Heating with low pressure hot water systems
• Heat recovery systems
• Functionality and data capture maintained through the Building Management System.

The designs produce the highest efficiencies and economies whilst maintaining the desired environmental conditions appropriate for replicable research or healthy plant production.

Temperature control

Accurate temperature control in any greenhouse is vital in producing successful and reliable research results. Unigro’s attention to this with the GroDome has produced a sealed facility that can maintain the highest level of temperature security whilst under full solar gain:

• ± 1°C tolerance within a 15°C - 30°C preset range
• Even air temperature throughout the growing chamber
• Rapid reaction to changes in solar gain
• Secondary cooling system to maintain control in the event of mechanical failure
• BMS controlled functionality

The GroDome is designed to maintain temperature control without the requirement of screens or blinds to maximise natural irradiance.

Humidity/Dehumidification

In order to maintain a perfect environment for meaningful research the GroDome is provided with humidity control functionality. This system maintains control and is available with the following options:

• Misting systems
• Compressed air systems
• Steam generated systems
• Control between 45-90% range without airchange
• BMS controlled operation

The design of these systems is conducted with guidance from Legionella specialists.

Building Management System (BMS)

The functionality and reporting data for the GroDome is performed by a Trend control system which is easy to use and offers the following features:

• Monitors all operational functions
• Provides remote notification of any deviation from preset environmental conditions
• Notifies specific personnel of critical alarms
• Is accessible over the internet
• Various levels of accessibility by authorised personnel
• Data recording with full graphing capabilities

Trend systems can be integrated with most existing building management systems.

Fail-Safe Security

To enhance the major unique features of the GroDome technology Unigro has included a failsafe system to preserve the integrity of the research being conducted in the event of mechanical failure. This is achieved by the inclusion of a COOLTH tank which achieves the following:

• 36-hours reserve cooling capacity in the event of mechanical failure
• Energy saving advantages

The COOLTH tank can be integrated with a heat sink tank for further sustainable energy benefits.