Industrial cold rooms for warehouses, logistics and food production

An industrial cold room is a cold store built for volume and movement: pallet racking, forklift aisles, loading bay access and refrigeration plant sized for goods going in and out all day, at 0 to +4 °C for chilled stock, -18 to -25 °C for frozen and down to -40 °C for blast freezing. Alaska Cold designs, installs and maintains industrial cold rooms, freezer rooms and cold stores for warehouses, cash and carry sites, food producers, packers and distribution centres across London and the UK.

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  • London, the Home Counties and UK-wide
Tall cold store with yellow sliding doors and ceiling-mounted evaporator fans

Industrial cold rooms for warehouses and cash and carry

A warehouse cold room is planned from the pallet count backwards. How many pallets of chilled and frozen stock do you hold at peak, how fast do they turn, and which forklift moves them? From that come the racking type (adjustable, drive-in or mobile), the aisle widths, the floor loading, the door sizes and the number of chambers. Cash and carry sites usually want a chilled store customers can walk into with a trolley and a frozen store behind a counter or a glass-door wall; wholesalers want pallet-in, pallet-out with dock access. Typical stores run from 100 m² to 1,000 m² and more. For the construction, doors and plant, see our commercial cold storage page.

Cold rooms for food production and packaging

Food producers need a chain of rooms rather than one: a chilled intake store for raw ingredients, process rooms held at +8 to +12 °C where people work, blast chillers or blast freezers to take cooked or fresh product through the danger zone quickly, a finished goods store and a despatch chill. Every room gets hygienic panel finishes, coved junctions, washable floors with drainage and a layout that keeps raw and cooked product apart. Temperature records from the controllers support your HACCP plan and your BRC or retailer audits.

Industrial freezer rooms and blast freezing

Frozen stores at -18 to -25 °C use 150 to 200 mm panels, a heated floor or ventilated sub-floor to stop frost heave, heated sliding doors, electric defrost on every evaporator and low-temperature plant sized for the daily intake. Where product arrives warm, a blast freezer or blast tunnel freezes it at -30 to -40 °C so the store only has to hold temperature rather than pull it down. See our freezer rooms page for how a freezer room differs from a chiller.

Logistics and distribution

Distribution sites move temperature-controlled goods through quickly, so the design is about doors and air: dock shelters and rapid roll doors that open for seconds not minutes, ante rooms that stop warm air reaching the frozen chamber, and a chilled cross-dock area where pallets are broken down and rebuilt. Pharmaceutical distribution also needs temperature mapping, calibrated probes and continuous records to meet Good Distribution Practice, and we plan them into the design from the start.

Design, energy and controls

Industrial stores run around the clock, so energy is designed in: remote plant with inverter-driven compressors that match output to load, defrost on demand, heat recovery to warm offices or hot water, LED lighting, and a door strategy that keeps openings short. Digital controllers with remote monitoring, alarms to your phone and data logging cover compliance and stock protection at the same time.

Compliance for industrial cold storage

  • Food hygiene law: chilled food at 8 °C or below, frozen at -18 °C, with temperature records.
  • F-Gas Regulations: leak checks at intervals set by the refrigerant charge, by certified engineers, with records kept for five years.
  • Health and safety: doors that open from inside, trapped-person alarms in freezer stores, limits on time spent working at -18 °C, and electric forklifts in enclosed rooms.
  • Building Regulations and insurers: panel fire performance, structure and electrical work; a new building or external plant may need planning permission.

Why industrial operators choose Alaska Cold

  • Design from your throughput and pallet count, not from a standard room size.
  • One team for panels, floors, doors, plant and controls, and the same team on the maintenance contract afterwards.
  • Phased installation around a live site, with out-of-hours work where the operation needs it.
  • 24/7 emergency line and planned maintenance with F-Gas records handled for you.

Planning a cold store, a production facility or a frozen expansion? Tell us about the site and we will arrange a visit.

Cold store with pallets of fruit and vegetable crates either side of a yellow double door

Typical specification for industrial cold rooms

What businesses in this sector usually need. Every installation is sized to the site.

Products stored Pallets of chilled and frozen goods, raw ingredients, work in progress, finished product
Temperatures Chilled 0 to +4 °C; process areas +8 to +12 °C; frozen -18 to -25 °C; blast freezing to -40 °C
Typical size 100 to 1,000 m² and more, with racking for 50 to over 1,000 pallets
Construction 100 to 200 mm panels, insulated floors with wearing screed, suspended ceilings, hygienic finishes
Doors and access Sliding and rapid roll doors, dock shelters, ante rooms, forklift aisles
Plant and controls Remote condensing units or compressor packs, inverter control, monitoring, alarms, data logging
Compliance Food hygiene, F-Gas, trapped-person alarms, panel fire performance, HACCP and retailer audits

Every store is designed from your pallet count, throughput and temperature zones.

Planning a new room, a refit or a replacement?

Tell us about the premises and what you sell. We will recommend the right set-up and send a written quotation.

Call +44 7879 685742

Frequently asked questions

What is an industrial cold room?

An industrial cold room is a cold store built for volume and movement rather than for a kitchen: large enough for pallet racking and forklifts, with an insulated floor that takes the load, doors sized for a loaded pallet truck or forklift, and refrigeration plant sized for goods going in and out all day. They run chilled at 0 to +4 °C or frozen at -18 to -25 °C, often with several chambers at different temperatures behind a shared ante room.

Can you build large cold stores for warehouses?

Yes. We design and install cold stores from around 100 m² to several thousand square metres, with pallet racking, forklift aisles, dock doors and remote refrigeration plant, for cash and carry warehouses, wholesalers and distribution centres. The project starts with a design stage covering pallet count, racking type, throughput, temperature zones and energy, and we phase the build around a site that is already trading. See our commercial cold storage page for the construction, doors and plant.

Do you install industrial freezer rooms?

Yes. Industrial freezer rooms and frozen stores at -18 to -25 °C, with 150 to 200 mm panels, heated floors or ventilated sub-floors to stop frost heave, heated sliding doors, electric defrost on every evaporator and low-temperature plant sized for the daily intake. Where product arrives warm we add a blast freezer or blast tunnel, so the store only has to hold temperature rather than pull it down. See our freezer rooms page.

What does a cold storage facility cost?

It depends on floor area and height, the number of chambers and their temperatures, the floor construction, the doors and the refrigeration plant, which is usually the largest single item. A 100 m² chill store and a 1,000 m² frozen store with a plant room are very different projects. We price from a drawn design in a written, itemised quotation and show where inverter plant, doors and heat recovery pay back in running costs. Our cold room cost guide explains the factors.

Do you install cold rooms for food production?

Yes. Food producers and packers need a chain of rooms rather than one: a chilled intake store, process rooms held at +8 to +12 °C where people work, blast chillers or freezers, a finished goods store and a despatch chill, all with hygienic panel finishes, washable floors with drainage and separation between raw and cooked areas. We design and install the rooms and the plant, and the temperature records support your HACCP plan and your BRC or retailer audits.

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