Cut flowers are graded on the stem, so the house has to deliver three things at once: clean light, moving air and a dry bloom. This one is built around the moisture problem in particular. The gothic roof is steep enough to shed water quickly, the gutter is sized to carry it away, and the cover is a three layer film with an anti drip treatment so the condensate runs down the film rather than onto the crop. The frame is galvanized after fabrication and bolted without welds.
A flower crop is sold on the stem, and a stem is graded on how evenly it grew. That puts twodemands on the house that a vegetable crop does not make: the light has to be even across the benchrather than highest in the middle, and a bloom cannot be sitting under a drip when it opens.
Even light is the first requirement. On a gothic profile the cover is a series of shallow surfacesrather than one wide curve, which spreads the light across the house instead of concentrating it at thecrown, and a three layer film diffuses what comes through so the lower canopy is not shaded out. Thepractical result is that the crop grades better across the bed.
The second requirement is ventilation, and it has to be continuous rather than switched on. A cutflower house is run with the sides open through most of the season, and the gothic shape with a steeproof gives the stack effect something to work with, so the humid air leaves at the ridge and isreplaced from the sides. Houses of this shape are grouped on the multi span greenhouse range page on this site.
The roof pitch does the work on moisture. A steep surface moves water off the cover quickly, sothere is less standing water and less of the slow dripping that marks a bloom, and the gutter is sizedto take the flow when it arrives in a burst rather than to just carry a steady trickle.
Under the cover the air is kept moving so the canopy dries. On a flower crop that matters more thanon a leaf crop because the saleable part is exposed: a damp petal marks, and once a stem is marked itdoes not recover. The combination of a treated film, a steep roof and open sides is what keeps thecrop dry through a humid spell.
The steel is fabricated first and hot dip galvanized after, and the house is bolted together withno welding on site. Both details matter in a house that runs at the humidity a flower crop needs,because a weld burns the zinc back at the joint and a bolted connection keeps the coating continuous.The interior is left clear, so the benching and the irrigation layout follow the crop rather than thestructure.
Parts are numbered consistently across production runs. On a block sold to a wholesale nursery or agrower group that is what makes an extension or a replacement straightforward: the part is ordered bynumber against the same drawing the original house was built from, rather than fabricated to match.
The table below is the standard build. Span, length, film and the benching layout are set to the site and to the crop.
| House type | Gothic multi span film greenhouse |
| Structure material | Hot dip galvanized steel, galvanized after fabrication |
| Connections | Bolted throughout, no welding on site |
| Cover | Three layer film, anti drip and dustproof |
| Light | Diffused across the house |
| Moisture | Steep roof sheds quickly, large gutter carries the flow |
| Interior | Clear for flexible benching and irrigation layouts |
| Parts | Uniform numbering across production runs |
| Crops | Cut flowers, bedding plants and nursery stock |
| Supply | Bulk supply to wholesale nurseries and grower groups |
| Customisation | Span, length, film and benching layout set to the site |
The setting out drawing comes first, with the gutter fall confirmed before the first frame israised. Ground posts or a base rail are set and levelled, the bays are raised one at a time, the gutterline and bracing follow, the end walls are framed and the film is fitted once the frame is closed. Thebenching goes in after the house is watertight, so the layout is set against a finished floor.
Maintenance is the cover, the ventilation and the bolts. The film is checked at the fixings andalong the eave where it takes the wind, and the roll up sides are cleared and tested at the start ofeach season, because a vent that sticks costs the crop more than it costs to fix. Bolted joints aregone over at the same time, and the gutters are cleared before the wet season.
Houses of this type are used for cut flower production, for bedding plants raised on benches, andfor nursery stock that needs even light and moving air. They suit a wholesale nursery standardising itsprotected area across several houses, a grower group ordering a block to the same drawing, andfloriculture operations where the crop is graded on the stem. A gothic multi span house built for snowshedding is described in the gothic multi span snow shedding greenhouse page.
Standards for structures and their components are published by BSI. Business and technology reporting on agtech and controlled environment production is published by AgFunderNews. A single span house built for the same crop is described in the single span 6m flower greenhouse page.
Because it sets how the moisture leaves and how the light spreads. A steep surface sheds waterquickly and a segmented cover spreads light across the house rather than concentrating it at the crown,which is what keeps the stems grading evenly.
So an extension or a replacement can be ordered against the drawing the house was built from. On ablock that grows in stages, or a grower group holding several houses, that is what keeps the componentsinterchangeable.
The galvanized steel frame is rated for 15 to 20 years under normal growing conditions. The filmcover is replaced on its own cycle, and the ventilation mechanism, gutter line and fixings are servicedeach season.
We provide a 10 year structural warranty and a 5 year anti-corrosion warranty on the galvanized steelwork. Details are set out in the contract for each project.
Send your site dimensions, the crop you plan to run and the benching layout you intend to use. We reply with a layout drawing and a full quotation.
