Two enormous tomato greenhouses are approaching completion on the fringe of Norwich – part of a £120m ambition to make East Anglia a national hotspot for low-carbon food production.
The structures, covering an area larger than London’s O2 Arena, can be seen in these bird’s-eye images captured this week by aerial photographer Mike Page.
The development on the Colman family’s Crown Point Estate at Kirby Bedon, along with a similar greenhouse being built outside Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, will have the combined capacity to produce up to 12pc of the nation’s tomatoes and sweet peppers.
It will use a hydroponic vertical growing system warmed by waste heat recycled from Anglian Water’s nearby water treatment plant – a “world-first” model which developers at Low Carbon Farming claim will make the region a beacon for environmentally-sustainable food production.
READ MORE: Colman family’s pride as construction work begins on vast tomato greenhouse
The Norfolk site is divided into two greenhouses of seven and nine hectares, and is expected to create 210 new jobs by the time it is operational at the end of this year.
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