Greenhouse screening has to work with the facility around it

Screens are often treated as a product choice — shading, thermal, blackout, combination, horizontal or vertical. The screen type matters, but the more important question is how the screening system will behave inside the glasshouse it's going into.

A screen can reduce light, conserve energy or support crop control while also changing airflow, ventilation behaviour, humidity patterns and access for maintenance. We approach screening by considering the structure, controls, ventilation and operational constraints together. Where installation or refurbishment is the right route, we can deliver it — but screening is treated as part of the facility's airflow, heat retention, shading, access and control strategy, not as a catalogue choice.

What screening decisions affect

Screening systems influence far more than shade. They affect heat retention, plant load, ventilation response, airflow, condensation risk, light distribution and maintenance access. Where screens are retrofitted or refurbished, they also have to work with the structure that's actually installed — not the structure shown on the drawings.

We can assess whether an existing screen can be retained, adapted or refurbished, or whether a different support, control or installation approach is needed.

  • Shading screens
  • Thermal and energy screens
  • Blackout screens
  • Combination screens
  • Horizontal and vertical screens
  • Screening proposals where structure, airflow or controls may constrain the design

  • Manually operated or motorised systems
  • Refurbishment of existing screening arrangements
  • Screening adaptation where the existing structure limits a standard product route
  • Screening installation where the solution has been properly scoped

Why screens shouldn't be scoped in isolation

A screen installation can solve one problem while creating another. A shading solution may reduce solar gain but restrict airflow. A thermal screen may improve energy performance but change humidity behaviour. A motorised system may be technically desirable but financially or structurally unrealistic.

The strongest screening outcomes come from reviewing the functional objective first: what the facility needs the screen to achieve, what constraints already exist, and how the solution will behave once the glasshouse is in use. Where installation or refurbishment is the right route, we can deliver the defined works or coordinate the specialist input required. The difference is that the delivery route follows the diagnostic and structural reality of the facility, not a preferred screen product.