Westbrook Greenhouse Systems: Going With Glass

In May 2010, Paul Cavicchio Greenhouses of Sudbury, Mass., suffered a fire that destroyed about 85,000 square feet of double poly greenhouses along with the crop and all of the equipment that was inside. After the cleanup, Cavicchio decided to use this as an opportunity to change and upgrade that part of the facility. The Cavicchio team looked at current crop usage, maintenance, heating and irrigation and decided to replace the destroyed greenhouses with gutter-connected, curved glass greenhouses from Westbrook Greenhouse Systems.

The new greenhouse has large panels of tempered glass with two continuous ridge vents on each peak for maximum natural ventilation. This greenhouse style is not new to Cavicchio. They have been operating 60,000 square feet of Westbrook curved glass houses as their propagation area since the late 1990s. For owner Paul Cavicchio and head grower Glenn Harrison, the choice was a simple one. The curved glass greenhouse provided maximum light and ventilation for their crops.

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Back in 1985, Westbrook Greenhouse Systems was the first to introduce curved glass greenhouses to the North American greenhouse market. The curved design of the glass panels adds to their strength, and the panels’ large size allows sunlight to flood into the greenhouse. Because there is only one piece of glass between the vent and the gutter, condensation that forms on the inside of the glass runs freely to the bottom of the sheets where it’s directed to the gutters. No supports or purlins are required. This versatile structure could be used for production, propagation or even as a retail garden center.
 

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