WR Refrigeration, the UK’s largest commercial refrigeration contractor, has unveiled plans to become a major force in industrial refrigeration. The company’s Spalding branch becomes the national focus of expertise for industrial technology.

The company already has significant experience in large scale cooling with ammonia refrigeration, used extensively in agriculture and industrial process cooling, and plans to expand significantly in related industrial technologies. WR believes that rising food prices and a resurgent farming sector will enable industry to invest in new, more efficient manufacturing systems, including state-of-the-art refrigeration plant. The move is also partly in response to the trend towards use of natural refrigerants across the industry, which requires the development of new skills, often drawn from the industrial refrigeration side of the business. The company is aiming for a turnover of around £5million for the new division in the first 18 months, with anticipated growth of 30 per cent a year over the next five years. The industrial push has already resulted in a number of successful contracts, including a major project for one of the biggest names in food production.

WR’s success is reflected in the 2008 edition of the Cooling Industry Awards (October 1^st), where the company sponsored the 'Green End-user of the Year Award - Large Projects' category, was a finalist in three of the 13 award categories and was highly commended in the category of 'Training Initative' because of its CO2 training facility, an achievement made possible by the work of Paul Arrowsmith, WR’s Engineering & Compliance Director, who won the award of 'Environmental Pioneer - Individual', reveals the company’s press release.