KR Group are delighted to have been awarded a contract, on behalf of client NoFitech, to provide steel work and cladding for the build of a state-of-the-art Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) at Applecross, Scotland.
As part of a £49 million investment in their Wester Ross site, the Scottish Salmon Company (SSC) has partnered with Norwegian company, NoFitech, in a move to transform their approach to salmon fishing.
NoFitech designs and builds complete RAS facilities for both fresh and seawater. RAS is a closed and environmentally friendly production system, which utilizes the water sources better than traditional flow-through and re-use facilities, resulting in a significantly lower environmental footprint.
KR Group‘s Business Director, Nicola Fraser, says, “It’s rewarding to work on projects like this one, where we can help bring about important change and opportunities. It’s more than the job for us, it’s knowing we played a part in a much wider story. This facility will help Scotland move towards reliable, healthy, sustainable food sources.”
We recently announced our alignment to the UN’s Sustainability Development Goals. Usually referred to as ‘SDGs’, these goals represent key factors in combating climate change and nurturing communities, ecosystems, economies.
SDG Goal 14 calls for the ‘conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development’. Hand in hand with this, goes SDG Goal 2, which aims to ‘end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.’
Three core components of worldwide sustainable development are food, water, and energy. A demand for all three will rise with population and subsequent economic growth.
As of 2022, as many as 811 million people worldwide go to bed hungry each night. This data comes from Action Against Hunger, who say that we are disastrously off track to meet the United Nation’s target of achieving zero hunger by 2030.
By 2050, the global food production must increase by 50 percent to feed the 9 billion people projected to be on the planet.
Extensive research indicates aquaculture is the best way to feed the growing population, as it can be scaled up in a healthy and sustainable way. In its infancy, the farmed fish industry developed a reputation for its environmental challenges and the destruction of marine habitats. Today however, aquaculture gears strongly towards creating a sustainable food system. Salmon fishing, for example, is the most technologically advanced form of aquaculture. Compared to land-based agriculture, it has a relatively low carbon footprint.
“We look forward to seeing the positive influence that NoFitech’s new facility will bring,” explains Nicola.
In March 2022, KR Group achieved PAS 2060 certification and Carbon Neutrality status. As well as this, our work to develop a circular economic solution to cladding waste has been recognised at several national award finals.
SSC’s new facility will see the collaborative efforts of likeminded organisations in what looks to be a promising step in working towards a healthy and sustainable food chain.
