Venlo Greenhouse Complete Guide

The Venlo design originated in the Dutch horticultural region of the same name and has become the international standard for high-light commercial glass production. Its defining characteristic is narrow roof spans carried on slender trusses, which minimises the structural material blocking incoming light while supporting glass, screens and crop loads.

• Narrow roof bays, typically 4.0 m or 4.8 m
• Slender steel trusses minimising light obstruction
• Gutter heights commonly 5.0 – 7.0 m for modern facilities
• Alternating roof ventilation with mechanical rack-and-pinion drives
• Glass panes carried in aluminium glazing bars

Buyers compare span width and glazing but frequently overlook gutter height, which is the specification most likely to constrain a facility permanently. Greater height increases the air volume above the canopy, which buffers temperature and humidity swings and gives high-wire crops the vertical space they need.

• 4.0 – 4.5 m: adequate for leafy crops and propagation only
• 5.0 – 5.5 m: workable for shorter fruiting crops
• 6.0 – 6.5 m: standard for modern high-wire tomato and cucumber
• 7.0 m+: maximum climate buffering, used with supplemental lighting

A Venlo structure is a platform; its performance comes from the systems installed in it. The same frame can be specified as a modest passive facility or as a fully controlled year-round production environment, and the difference in both capital and operating cost is substantial.

• Heating: pipe rail or grow pipes, boiler, CHP or heat pump supply
• Energy screens: single or dual, driving 30 – 50% heating reduction
• Roof ventilation with wind and rain automated override
• CO₂ dosing, frequently recovered from heating exhaust
• Heat buffer tanks decoupling heat production from demand

A Venlo facility with single glass and an active climate package runs roughly €120 to €180 per square metre installed. Specifying double glass and a cold-climate package moves that to €170 to €220. These figures assume complete installed facilities excluding land and civil works.

Venlo makes economic sense where light is the binding yield constraint and production runs year-round. For crops that tolerate lower light or produce seasonally, the capital premium over a multi span film structure is difficult to recover.

• Strong fit: tomato, cucumber, sweet pepper, aubergine
• Good fit: high-value leafy greens and herbs, propagation
• Usually not justified: strawberry and blueberry in mild climates

Multi span structures use wider spans and film or polycarbonate glazing, delivering a materially lower cost per square metre with somewhat lower light transmission and shorter glazing life. Where a crop is light-limited and runs year-round, Venlo generally wins on cost per kilogram despite the higher cost per square metre. Where it is not, multi span usually wins.

Two items are commonly value-engineered out of Venlo quotes and both are expensive to retrofit: the screen package and adequate gutter height. Structural loads should also be recalculated against local snow and wind codes rather than adopted from a Dutch reference project, particularly for continental climates.