UK Cold Storage & Distribution - Constellation Cold Logistics
Constellation Logo Group Landscape Mono White Rgb

Constellation is one of the UK’s market-leading providers of temperature-controlled storage and distribution solutions.

Our facilities are located in North East Lincolnshire (Grimsby), the West Midlands (Redditch & Wolverhampton), and the South West (Tewkesbury), and cater to a wide range of temperature requirements. We also offer a number of specialised value-added services and solutions tailored to our customer’s requirements. Our fleet of around 75 LGV lorries provides temperature-controlled transport services to our customers, including a single-pallet groupage service from our warehouses. Learn more about our services.

Constellation holds several UK quality certifications and accreditations, displayed at the bottom of this page.

About
8

Storage Facilities

Icon Pallets
177 K

Pallet Positions

Icon Capacity
1022000 m3

Capacity

Latest UK News

Our Team

Our UK leadership team are a group of passionate individuals who work hard to ensure that our commitment to providing outstanding service to all our customers is met continually. With experience in the cold chain sector, our team has the knowledge to understand you and your requirements.

Thomas Hughes

Thomas Hughes

UK & Ireland Managing Director

Thomas Hughes

Thomas Hughes

UK & Ireland Managing Director

Sonia Ireland

Finance Director

Ben Price

Ben Price

Commercial Director

Andrew Collinson

Project Manager

Kevin Ryder

Kevin Ryder

Customer Relationship Director

Vicky Stonehouse

Vicky Stonehouse

Head of Human Resources

Paul Love

Head of Transport

Lee Adkins

Head of HSQE

Mark Burrows

Head of Engineering & Maintenance

Siobhan Gleed

Siobhan Gleed

Regional General Manager – North

Richard Rowley

Regional General Manager – Midlands/South West

Emma Myers

Head of Finance

David Hodson

David Hodson

Head of Warehousing

Ann Liesse

Human Resources Manager

Fiona Hamilton

Fiona Hamilton

Regional Transport Manager

Vivien

Vivien Lock

Quality & Compliance Manager

Terry McCann

General Manager – Wolverhampton

Leigh Talbot

Facilities Manager

Leslie Dight

Coldstore Manager – Estate Roads 1 & 2

Jason Reynolds

Jason Reynolds

Coldstore Manager – Grimsby Docks

Paul Smith

Paul Smith

Coldstore Manager – Lewis Howard Avenue

Paul

Paul Turner

Coldstore Manager – Birchin Way (Block B)

Steve Hill

Steve Hill

Coldstore Manager – Redditch & Tewkesbury

Paul Drinkell

Paul Drinkell

Planning Manager

Colin Cox

Colin Cox

Systems Administrator

Please visit Careers page to check out our current vacancies

Constellation’s origins as a leading player in the UK cold storage and logistics market began through the acquisitions of HSH Coldstores and ACS&T Logistics 

With over 150 years of combined experience, both companies give Constellation UK a strong heritage in the market.

In 1970, when John Howard founded John T. Howard Limited, as the company’s sole employee working out of his truck cab. John opened a cold store in Grimsby in 1989, owing to the trust earned by his customers. The site was replaced by a new state-of-the-art, purpose-built facility at Birchin Way to bring the company into the 21st century under the HSH brand. Sister company SAL Commercials handled logistics.

In 2014, HSH acquired Cryotech (Grimsby) Ltd, adding an additional site at Birchin Way and a strong book of loyal customers. This coincided with the opening of an additional facility in Grimsby (Lewis Howard Avenue), making the firm the largest cold storage provider in the town. 2015 saw continued growth with the opening of a new facility in Redditch.

In 2023, Constellation acquired ACS&T Logistics, further expanding its presence in Grimsby and strengthening its presence in the Midlands.

ACS&T began as the London Ice and Storage Company in 1921, opening the country’s first ever cold store beneath Billingsgate Market, London. 1934 saw the Grimsby Cold Storage Company open a low-temperature cold store in the town’s docks – another country-first. The two eventually became a part of ACS&T following a rebrand in 1984, giving the company unrivalled cold storage experience. 

In 1965, the Grimsby company was acquired by Associated Fisheries, giving it access to the world’s largest trawler fleet and UK’s largest transport fleet at the time. The company was subsequently acquired by Camilla Plc took place.

Constellation has invested significantly in the UK business since acquisition including installation of around 3MW of solar panels and significant investment in new equipment, facilities, and infrastructure. The company has a strong pipeline of investment plans in the UK in the near future, which will enable the continued rapid growth of the business to meet our customers’ ambitions.

Accreditations

In the UK, we hold several accreditations including:

To see all of our accreditations across the Group, please visit Our Accreditations page

Value-added services

We provide a wide range of value-added logistics services, as well as tailored and bespoke solutions to support our customers. Please contact us to discuss your requirements.

Tab Freezing

Freezing and Tempering

We have pioneered tempering and freezing technologies across the network for many years.

We provide high-capacity blast freezing services in specifically designed tunnels to minimise crystallisation and ensure superior product quality and safety.

We also offer cutting-edge, accelerated tempering for butter and other commodities, ensuring your product is safely defrosted.

We can provide these services for a variety of different product types, including standard palletized or boxed product, or specialised products such as hanging meat or unpackaged products.

Learn more

Tab Case

Case and Unit Picking

We provide case and individual unit picking services to customers across multiple sectors.

This includes advanced voice picking, which ensures orders are ready quickly whilst eliminating errors.

Learn more

Tab Bespoke

Unpacking, Repacking and Shrink Wrapping

We provide a wide range of specialised unpacking and repacking services.

These include automated butter unpacking, ‘clean room’ fresh meat repacking and a comprehensive labelling service. Bag types and packaging materials are used according to the product and customer’s supply chain.

Learn more

Tab Stuffing

Stuffing, Stripping / Handballing and Transloading

Many of our customers benefit from our efficient container loading and unloading services, providing a fast and high-quality interface for imports and exports.

We can also assist with the customs warehousing of your product. Additionally, we assist customers with cross-docking / transloading of containers and trailers.

Learn more

Constellation Truck

Transport

We offer comprehensive full load and groupage temperature-controlled transport services across our network.

We have a dedicated fleet of over 100 modern trucks and temperature-controlled trailers to help with all your temperature-controlled transport needs, from single-pallet to full truckload. Additionally, we offer specialised transport services, such as multi-temperature and hanging meat.

We also partner with industry-leading logistics providers to ensure our storage facilities seamlessly integrate into the supply chains of our customers. We are preferred partners for numerous trucking companies, ocean carriers, and 3PL providers.

Learn more

Tab Qc

Quality Control Services

Quality, product integrity and supply chain traceability are essential in food supply chains.

We can either accommodate third party quality inspectors or provide this service in-house, for or on behalf of customers.

 

Import and Export Services

We support our customers with the expertise to ensure their products are imported and exported without disruption.

This includes a variety of service offerings, with in-house and external personnel.

Learn more

Tab Wrapping

Bespoke Customer Infrastructure Solutions

We pride ourselves on our customer-centric approach and welcome the opportunity to partner with customers to meet their unique coldchain needs.

Our European- and country-based resources include a variety of experienced professionals, systems, tools and partnerships to develop customised solutions with the implementation of necessary steps, such as design, modelling, testing and implementation.

Our financial strength and capabilities also allow us to deploy the necessary capital for projects both small and large.

Learn more

Protecting your Personal Data

Constellation UK are committed to protecting your personal data in line with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. A selection of our GDPR policies can be found below.

If you have any UK related data protection enquries, please contact our UK Data Protection Team via email: [email protected].

To help visitors understand this website in languages other than English, an automatic translation service is provided. Constellation cannot guarantee the accuracy of the translated text, and visitors rely on this at their own risk.

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. You can read more about this in our Privacy & Cookies Policy