Commercial cold storage installation

Commercial cold storage installation is the design and build of large temperature-controlled space: cold stores, freezer stores and chill rooms big enough for pallet racking, forklifts and daily deliveries, with the refrigeration plant, doors, floors and controls to match. Alaska Cold designs, supplies, installs and maintains cold storage for cash and carry warehouses, food producers, wholesalers, distribution centres and large retailers across London and the UK, from a 50 m² chill room to a multi-chamber cold store with its own plant room.

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

Who commercial cold storage is for

What is included in a cold storage installation

  • Design: we start from your throughput, pallet count, racking layout and temperature zones, and produce drawings and a specification before anything is ordered.
  • Insulated wall and ceiling panels for large spans, with suspended insulated ceilings where the building is tall, and insulated floors with a wearing screed for forklifts and pallet trucks.
  • Industrial doors: sliding and hinged insulated doors, rapid roll doors for busy openings, strip and air curtains, and dock seals at loading bays.
  • Refrigeration plant sized for the store: remote condensing units or multi-compressor packs, ceiling-mounted evaporators, pipework and controls.
  • Digital control, remote temperature monitoring with alarms and data logging for your HACCP records.
  • Lighting, racking and internal fittings where you want one supplier for the whole room.
  • Commissioning, pull-down to temperature, training for your team and handover documents.
  • Maintenance contracts with F-Gas leak checks, and a 24/7 repair line.

Chill rooms, freezer stores and multi-temperature cold stores

Most sites need more than one temperature. Chill rooms hold dairy, meat and ready meals at 0 to +4 °C; produce rooms hold fruit and vegetables at +8 to +12 °C; freezer stores hold frozen goods at -18 to -25 °C. A multi-temperature cold store puts these in separate chambers behind a shared ante room, so cold air is not lost every time a forklift passes through and the freezer plant does not have to fight warm air from the loading bay. Where you need a single walk-in room rather than a store, see our cold rooms and freezer rooms pages.

Cold storage design: racking, access and energy

A cold store is designed around how goods move. Adjustable pallet racking suits mixed stock; drive-in or mobile racking suits a few product lines in volume. Aisle widths follow the forklift you use, and door positions follow the route from the loading bay to the racking. Energy is the running cost that matters: rapid roll doors and air curtains cut the cold lost at openings, LED lighting adds less heat than fluorescent tubes, inverter-driven compressors match output to load, defrost on demand stops evaporators heating when they do not need to, and heat recovery can warm the office or hot water from the heat the plant rejects anyway. We design these in from the start rather than adding them later.

Lead times for cold storage installation

You get a response to an enquiry within one working hour during business hours, and a site visit soon after. Design and specification typically take two to four weeks for a large store, and equipment is usually four to eight weeks from order. Installation takes two to eight weeks on site depending on the size and the plant, and we phase the work where a site is already trading.

Cold storage installers for London and the rest of the UK

We are based at 167-169 Great Portland Street in central London and install cold storage across Greater London, Essex, Kent, Surrey and Hertfordshire, with larger projects anywhere in the UK. See our London page or the full list of areas we cover.

Why choose Alaska Cold for cold storage

  • One team for design, panels, doors, refrigeration plant and controls, and the same team maintains the store afterwards.
  • A written, itemised quotation from a drawn design, so you can compare it fairly and see where energy-saving choices pay back.
  • More than 25 years of commercial refrigeration experience in the team, from single cold rooms to cold storage plants.
  • 24/7 emergency call-outs for the life of the store.

Planning a cold store? Tell us about the site and we will arrange a visit, or read our cold room cost guide first.

Tall cold store with yellow sliding doors and ceiling-mounted evaporator fans

Commercial cold storage specifications

Temperature zones Chill 0 to +4 °C; produce +8 to +12 °C; frozen -18 to -25 °C; multi-temperature stores with separate chambers
Typical sizes From about 50 m² chill rooms to multi-chamber cold stores of 500 m² and more
Installation time Two to eight weeks on site, depending on size and plant
Panels 100 to 200 mm insulated panels; suspended insulated ceilings for wide spans
Floors Insulated floors with a wearing screed for forklifts and pallet trucks; heated sub-floor under freezer stores
Doors Sliding, hinged and rapid roll doors; strip and air curtains; loading bay dock seals
Refrigeration plant Remote condensing units or multi-compressor packs with ceiling-mounted evaporators
Controls Digital controllers, remote temperature monitoring with alarms, data logging for HACCP records
Lead time Typically: design two to four weeks; equipment four to eight weeks from order

Every store is designed from your throughput, racking and temperature zones, so the figures above are typical rather than fixed.

How it works

Four steps from your first call to a working system.

  1. Site survey

    We visit the site to measure the space and check access, power and the floor, then talk through what you need to store and at what temperature.

  2. Design and quotation

    We design the system around your products, space and budget, and send a written quotation that sets out what is included.

  3. Installation

    We install the panels, doors and refrigeration equipment, then test and commission the system before handing it over.

  4. Handover and maintenance

    We show your team how to use it and offer maintenance contracts to keep it running reliably.

Free quotation

Site survey and written quotation at no charge

No obligation to go ahead.

What affects the price

Every quotation is itemised after a free site survey, so you can see exactly what you are paying for.

  • Floor area, height and the number of chambers
  • Temperature zones: frozen stores cost more than chill rooms
  • Panel thickness and the insulated floor construction
  • Doors: sliding, rapid roll and loading bay seals
  • Refrigeration plant size, and whether inverter compressors or heat recovery are specified
  • Racking, lighting and temperature monitoring
  • Electrical supply, pipework runs and building work
  • Working around a live site or a phased handover
Read the cold room cost guide

What will it cost?

Answer five quick questions and see a budget range for your cold room in about 60 seconds. No contact details needed, and every figure is subject to a free site survey.

Get a budget estimateNot sure of the size? Work it out

Not sure what you need?

Tell us about the space and what you store. We will recommend a set-up and send a written quotation.

Call +44 7879 685742

Industries we work with

Each sector stores different products at different temperatures. See what we install for yours.

Frequently asked questions

How much does cold storage installation cost?

It depends on floor area and height, the number of chambers, the temperature of each, the floor construction and the refrigeration plant, which is often the largest single item. A 50 m² chill room is a different project from a 500 m² frozen store with a plant room. We price from a drawn design, in a written, itemised quotation, and show you where choices such as doors, inverter compressors and heat recovery pay back in running costs. Our cold room cost guide explains the factors.

What is a cold storage room?

A cold storage room, or cold store, is a large insulated room, usually big enough for pallet racking and a forklift, that holds goods at a controlled temperature: chilled at 0 to +4 °C, produce at +8 to +12 °C or frozen at -18 to -25 °C. It is built from insulated panels with an insulated floor, industrial doors and a refrigeration plant sized for the volume and the daily throughput. Cold stores are the backbone of food wholesale, production and distribution.

Can you build large-scale or industrial cold stores?

Yes. We design and install industrial cold stores with pallet racking, forklift access, several chambers at different temperatures, loading bays and remote refrigeration plant, for cash and carry warehouses, food producers and distribution sites. Larger projects start with a design stage covering throughput, racking layout, energy use and phasing, so the store works for the way goods move through your business. See our industrial cold rooms page for the sectors we work in.

Which regulations apply to cold storage in the UK?

Food hygiene law requires chilled food to be kept at 8 °C or below and frozen food at -18 °C, with temperature records for your HACCP plan. The F-Gas Regulations set leak-check intervals by refrigerant charge and require certified engineers. Health and safety rules cover doors that open from the inside, trapped-person alarms in large freezer stores and limits on time spent working at -18 °C. Building Regulations cover the structure, fire performance of the panels and electrical work, and a new building or external plant may need planning permission. We design to all of these and tell you what applies at the survey.

How is a cold store maintained?

With planned visits two to four times a year, scheduled out of hours or around deliveries. Each visit cleans the evaporator and condenser coils, checks every defrost circuit, the door seals, heaters and rapid roll doors, the refrigerant charge and the plant controls, and records an F-Gas leak check where the charge requires one. Remote temperature monitoring with alarms covers the time between visits. Our maintenance contracts include all of this for single and multi-site operators.

Do you rent out cold storage space?

We design, install and maintain cold storage rather than renting out space. If you need temporary cold storage while a store is built or repaired, a hire company can supply a mobile cold room, and we plan our work around the hire dates. For most businesses a permanent, correctly sized cold store costs less over a few years than renting space, and we are happy to help you compare the two.

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