Supporting long-term operational growth with a new greenfield feed mill campus
At a glance
To support long-term regional growth and enhance its supply chain resilience, a global food, agriculture and bio-industrial leader engaged us to help realize their vision for a purpose-built feed mill campus in Ontario. From the early stages of site selection to full-scale engineering design, we worked closely with our client to create a blueprint for a highly functional and cost-effective facility built to meet today’s needs while anticipating tomorrow’s demands.
The challenge
GHD’s client, a global leader in food, agriculture and bio-industrial innovation, wanted to establish a new greenfield feed mill campus in Ontario to support long-term operational growth. Turning that vision into a viable, investment-ready plan came with complex requirements.
Our client was looking for a site to accommodate a 120,000-square-foot facility spread across seven distinct buildings, including a mill tower, receiving and unloading areas, warehouse and administrative offices. The location needed to balance operational efficiency and supply chain continuity, ideally positioned to serve existing customers and suppliers without disruption.
The project had to stay within strict capital expenditure limits, meaning every decision from land selection to layout and construction planning had to be carefully evaluated for cost-effectiveness without compromising core functionality.
Our client also had to operate under a staged-gate approval process, meaning the design and planning phases had to align with internal funding milestones and allow for detailed reviews at every step. The challenge was building a new facility in the right place with the right strategy to support investment decisions.
Our response
Our role began well before a single line was drawn, starting with a comprehensive site selection process designed to help our client make confident, informed decisions from the outset.
We started the project by facilitating collaborative workshops to understand the production goals, operational needs and long-term vision for the facility. These discussions led to the development of eight key evaluation criteria, including land availability, access to utilities, transportation links and future expansion potential, which guided our assessment of more than 30 candidate sites. Site visits were an important part of the process, allowing us to evaluate each location in person and uncover insights that are not always obvious on paper.
Once a site was selected and purchased, we moved into the engineering and design phase. This began with detailed site investigations: topographic surveys, geotechnical studies and natural resource assessments, forming a site plan tailored to the property’s natural contours and boundaries. The layout was developed with both current function and future flexibility in mind, including provisions for rail unloading, traffic circulation and space for additional silos and processing infrastructure for future expansion.
Throughout this phase, we worked closely with our client through a series of value engineering workshops. These sessions brought together our in-house engineers, cost estimators and construction managers alongside our client’s team and external contractors. Together, we explored ways to optimize the design while staying within the capital budget, making thoughtful trade-offs to preserve production efficiency and site functionality.
Our team also supported project management, permitting and stakeholder engagement with municipal authorities and rail engineering while structuring our work to align with the staged-gate approval process. This aligned with our client’s internal decision-making timelines and helped maintain cost visibility and control at every step.
The impact
Although the project was paused before construction began, every element, from the campus layout to the long-term staging plan, was designed with flexibility in mind, giving our client a future-ready blueprint they can revisit when the timing is right.
The staged-gate approval model was key in reducing financial risk, allowing our client to make incremental investment decisions without over-committing resources. It also allowed every design milestone to align with internal funding cycles, giving our client’s team the time and space to conduct detailed reviews and secure stakeholder buy-in.
Beyond supporting the client’s strategic goals, the project was designed with broader benefits in mind. The proposed feed mill campus has the potential to create new employment opportunities, strengthen local agricultural supply chains and support more efficient, sustainable food production in the region. The design also incorporated thoughtful planning for stormwater management, rail integration and future expansion, helping to minimize environmental impact while maximizing long-term value for the surrounding community.