Deeley starts £3.7m seed breeding facility for DSV at Wardington in Oxfordshire

Deeley Construction has started work on a £3.7m office, seed processing and plant breeding development for DSV United Kingdom Ltd at Wardington in Oxfordshire, with completion due in summer 2027.

The Midlands contractor, which said it is in its 90th year, has started work on the new facilities. The scheme comprises a detached office building and three agricultural buildings, which Deeley said would bring DSV's seed processing and breeding equipment together on one site.

Dr Alexander Doering, Managing Director at DSV United Kingdom, said: "This development is the biggest project in the DSV Group this year."

DSV, which is headquartered in Germany, has been established in the UK for more than 40 years, according to Deeley. The company said the Wardington station is used solely for plant breeding, developing new varieties of wheat and other crops for UK farming.

The buildings

Deeley said the buildings would be laid out to follow the flow of work from early breeding through to bagged seed leaving for farms.

The first agricultural building will handle small seed lots, where seed is cleaned, treated and analysed, including testing for bread-making quality. The second will take larger lots of between one and ten tonnes later in the breeding process, with larger scale cleaning and treatment to prepare seed for market. The third will house bespoke breeding equipment.

Steve Turner, Construction Director at Deeley Construction, said the firm was pleased to be supporting DSV, "whose work developing new crop varieties will have a long term positive impact on UK farming and the wider economy."

Planning history

The start on site follows a planning process that ran for almost three years. Cherwell District Council's planning register shows a first application for the scheme, 23/01164/F, was received on 26 April 2023 and withdrawn, with the withdrawal recorded on 3 October 2023.

A re-submission, 24/00807/F, for new offices and agricultural buildings for a new agricultural seed facility, including an access road, parking and landscaping, was received on 22 March 2024. It went to committee on 11 July 2024 and the register records it as permitted with a decision date of 26 March 2026.

The site is listed as OS Parcel 0927, east of and adjoining Wardington Road, Wardington. The applicant was DSV United Kingdom Ltd and the agent was Lloyd-Thomas Architects Ltd.

The client

DSV UK describes itself as part of an international plant breeder based in Germany with subsidiaries across the world. Its breeding and trials centre at Wardington comprises about 50 hectares of land used to breed winter wheat and forage grass varieties, and the land is also used for National List trials of wheat and grass, according to the company.

Companies House records DSV United Kingdom Limited's registered office as Countrywide House, 23 West Bar, Banbury, Oxfordshire, with a registered activity of wholesale of grain, unmanufactured tobacco, seeds and animal feeds.

Dr Doering said the company was committed to staying in the area because it needs to be close to its trials and the farmers it works with, and because many of its staff live nearby.

Deeley said the scheme is due to complete in summer 2027.