CleanSpace, the Pennsylvania-based integrated design-build firm, has launched ColdSpace, a dedicated division targeting cold storage and temperature-controlled facility construction for food and beverage operators, pharmaceutical companies, and industrial manufacturers.
The new division arrives as cold-chain infrastructure investment remains a pressure point across the foodservice supply chain. Demand for refrigerated distribution capacity has tightened in recent years, driven by growth in ready-to-eat meal kits, fresh grocery delivery, and processor expansions — leaving operators competing for qualified design-build partners capable of managing refrigeration, automation, and construction under a coherent scope.
What ColdSpace Delivers
ColdSpace's core proposition is single-source accountability. The division integrates building construction, refrigeration systems, racking, automation, controls, and facility software under one contract — eliminating the coordination gaps that commonly inflate schedules and costs when owners manage multiple specialty subcontractors. The scope spans walk-in coolers and refrigerated processing spaces up through high-cube freezer warehouses and large-scale cold storage complexes.
By aligning refrigeration engineering with building requirements and material-flow design from project inception, the model aims to compress problem-discovery cycles and reduce change-order exposure — a persistent pain point in cold-facility construction where mechanical and structural scopes intersect tightly. For food and beverage processors and distributors evaluating capital projects, that front-loaded coordination can translate directly into faster commissioning timelines and more predictable unit economics.
Leadership Hires Signal Market Push
To establish commercial traction, ColdSpace has brought on Michael O'Neill as Director of Sales, National, and Michelle Grojean as Director of Marketing. Both hires are focused on building customer relationships and generating pipeline as the division moves from launch to active project delivery.
The new division extends CleanSpace's existing platform — which spans planning, design, engineering, U.S. manufacturing, construction, qualification, and ongoing facility support — into cold-chain markets that share many of the same technical demands as the cleanroom and controlled-environment work the parent company has built its reputation around. That institutional knowledge in managing complex environmental controls gives ColdSpace a differentiated starting point relative to general contractors attempting to enter the refrigerated-facility segment.
For foodservice operators and food manufacturers evaluating distribution center development or processing facility upgrades, the integrated model addresses a well-documented execution risk: cold-chain projects that fragment refrigeration, racking, and construction procurement across separate contracts routinely encounter scope disputes and commissioning delays. Single-source delivery reduces that exposure, and the trend toward design-build contracting in food manufacturing facility investment has accelerated as operators prioritize schedule certainty in volatile construction markets.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
