Addleshaw Goddard has advised the UK's largest investor in renewable energy, Greencoat Capital, on the acquisition and development of an £86m sustainable agriculture glasshouse project in Cambridgeshire.

The project places renewable energy and sustainable irrigation at the heart of commercial scale agriculture. 

In a world first, the glasshouse will employ LED lighting to accelerate growth, whilst the structure will be warmed using heat pumps taking heat from a nearby reservoir and powered by an onsite CHP plant. The CO2 generated by the CHP plant will be transferred to the glasshouse to effect carbon sequestration and the crops will be irrigated using captured rainwater.

Led by Energy Partner Rory Connor and Corporate Partner Mike Hinchliffe, AG supported Greencoat Capital in structuring and acquiring a majority stake in the project company and advised on the planning, construction and operating arrangements associated with the 22Ha glasshouse near Ely, Cambridgeshire. 

This project builds on Greencoat and Addleshaw Goddard's credentials in the sustainable agriculture sector. In 2019 AG supported Greencoat on the acquisition and development of two of the United Kingdom's largest 'low carbon' glasshouses.