Snapshot: Big storage, big business

By Sigrid Tornquist

Of the many and diverse projects Calhoun Super Structure has designed, manufactured and installed, the project for Cavendish Farms in Fort Fairfield, Maine, is one that Jeremy Calhoun is especially proud of. “Cavendish Farms is one of the largest land owners in North America,” Calhoun says. “And this was the first VP series structure we’d manufactured that was wider than 120 feet.”

Cavendish Farms produces frozen potato products for grocery stores and restaurants, and enlisted Calhoun Super Structure to install a structure to store fertilizer at its Maine facility. Engineered for 100 pounds of snow load and 90 mph of wind load, the 150-by-310-foot structure, mounted on 16-foot concrete walls, was designed for more than 20,000 tons of fertilizer storage. It was also designed with a receiving system to accommodate deliveries from rail or truck to storage. Installation began in December 2011 and was completed in February 2012. “We installed the structure in some of the worst conditions in the history of fabric building construction,” Calhoun says. “We had winter conditions with wind and snow, along the Maine coastline. But it turned out great and is a flagship project for us.”

Sigrid Tornquist is a freelance author and editor based in St. Paul, Minn. She is also the associate editor of InTents magazine, a publication of the Industrial Fabrics Association International.