In projects ranging from ventilation studies to designing state-of-the-art greenfield wineries, Sandwell has proved its thorough grasp of the intricacies of wine and beer making. Recent assignments include:
- mass balance analysis to identify bottlenecks and process redundancies;
- cellar ventilation upgrades;
- conceptual layout, capital cost estimates and equipment selection for a new winery for VQA wines.
Stratus Vineyards, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
State-of-the-art Winery
The Stratus Winery has approximately 1870 m2 of floor space. The building provides space appropriate for the complete production process for wine, from receiving the grapes, crushing, fermenting and storage. There is also areas for tasting and testing the wines, as well as a retail space, bar and private function area.
The winery is equipped with the latest equipment, such as a two-stage sorting table, which enables up to 16 people to first week out under-ripe or damaged bunches and then, once the loose grapes roll out of the de-stemming machine, pick up the best berries. Once the juice is pressed, it is moved up and down in tanks on industrial elevators to avoid the need for pumping through tubes, which many winemakers believe produces off-flavours.
The project was designed to achieve LEED certification by the Canda Green Building Council (CaGBC). Stratus becomes the very first building in Canada -as well as the first winery worldwide - to meet this standard.
Lakeport Beverage Corp., Hamilton, Ontario
In-line blending facility for spirit-based coolers
To augment Lakeport's beer products without tying up brewing capacity, Sandwell developed a process plan for a separate state-of-the-art blending facility, creating a food-grade area within the existing building, and using the existing bottling and canning equipment. The new process combines in-line blending and carbonating, and allows for all flavors and juice concentrates, alcohol, sugar and water to be accurately added and blended on a continuous basis.
Peller Estates Winery, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario
Specialized barrel cellar
The production facilities for this new winery include a barrel cellar for fermenting and aging ultra-premium VQA wines. Here, cool temperatures and high humidity must be maintained along with fresh air ventilation to dissipate the carbon dioxide produced during fermentation. Sandwell designed the mechanical and electrical systems for the building, including a climate control system to maintain the barrel cellar at optimum temperature and humidity.
Molson O'Keefe Brewery, Montréal, Québec
Brewery expansion
This $130 million brewery expansion called for increasing the capacity of the entire production line, from raw materials receiving and storage, brewing, fermentation and filtration, through kegging and bottling, packaging, warehousing and distribution. The fast-track assignment was carried out without any disruption to existing production, and in confined areas within the 200-year-old brewery. Sandwell provided full EPCM services plus start-up and operation assistance.
Vincor International, Niagara Falls, Ontario
Winery production process restructuring
Sandwell initially provided site selection services and capital cost estimates for Bright's proposed winery restructuring/modernization project. The new 75,000 sq ft facility retained the best of the existing production equipment along with new stainless steel tanks. Additional state-of-the-art features included an overhead piping network, mechanized grape dumpers, high speed bottling lines and a modernized testing lab. We provided conceptual planning, design, project management and start-up assistance for this fast-track assignment, completed on time and on budget.
