The UK’s protein sector is in the middle of one of the most challenging periods in its modern history, a leading expert has warned.
What was once a largely predictable, volume-driven industry is now facing scrutiny from every direction, from environmental pressures and labour shortages to volatile global markets and a rapidly expanding field of alternative proteins all converging at once.
As Ian Hart, Business Development Director at adi Projects, explains, the sector’s next phase will demand a very different way of thinking about production infrastructure.
“Protein production today isn’t simply about output,” he says. “It’s about designing operations that can survive disruption and respond to change, while remaining competitive in a far less forgiving environment.”
Environmental pressure reshaping factory thinking
Across meat, dairy, fish and plant-based manufacturing, environmental compliance has moved from a compliance exercise to a strategic driver. From emissions and water usage to waste treatment and local planning scrutiny, every aspect of production is under a sharper lens.
Hart notes that sustainability is now a starting point, not an afterthought: “You can’t retrofit environmental performance into a plant and expect it to deliver. Efficiency and responsible resource use have to be engineered into the foundations of a facility, otherwise you build in vulnerability from day one.
“We have seen a noticeable shift in the questions producers are asking at early design stages, with energy reduction and water efficiency given equal weight to throughput and line speed. The result is that the industry is beginning to view environmental resilience as core commercial resilience.”
Supply chain fragility and the need for flexible facilities
The UK’s reliance on imported protein feedstocks, particularly soya for pigs, poultry and aquaculture, has created a layer of fragility that producers can no longer ignore. Combined with an ageing estate of production facilities, many businesses are finding that their infrastructure is not built for the volatility they now face.
“Producers want to know how to design sites that aren’t trapped by single feedstocks, single product categories or single market assumptions,” Hart explains. “The more flexible a factory is, the more resilient the business behind it becomes.
“That flexibility increasingly means rethinking how sites are laid out and how raw materials move through a process. Our recent programmes have placed greater emphasis on modularity and reconfigurability, allowing factories to shift as supply chains do.”
Labour shortages driving a rethink of the working environment
Labour shortages continue to cut across virtually every part of the protein sector. From dairy units to poultry processing lines, producers are facing a structural lack of skilled and semi-skilled workers.
“You can’t remove the human element from food production,” Hart says. “But you can design plants that make it easier to recruit and retain good people.
“The most forward-thinking manufacturers are increasingly focusing on ergonomics, safer workflows, intuitive control systems and cleaner, more accessible plant layouts. These investments are not framed as automation for automation’s sake, but as a means of reducing physical strain and making the workplace more appealing to the next generation of operators.
The rise of alternative proteins and the merging of old and new worlds
While livestock-based protein still dominates UK diets, the growth of plant-based and cellular proteins is steadily reshaping the innovation pipeline. Businesses exploring these areas face a dual challenge in developing unfamiliar processes while maintaining the performance of their established operations.
Hart continued: “Alternative proteins aren’t a different universe. The engineering principles look very familiar, from high-care design and process control to temperature stability and hygienic construction. What’s different is the uncertainty, because these processes evolve quickly.
“Across adi Projects, our teams working in food, beverage and controlled-environment agriculture are now supporting clients who want to trial new raw materials or explore vertical-farming-based ingredient streams. These projects are bridges between traditional protein production and the emerging technologies that could define the sector’s next decades.”
Designing for a future that moves faster than the past
“Infrastructure must be designed for a market that is more changeable than anything the UK protein sector has seen before.
“The biggest risk for any producer is locking themselves into an inflexible facility. The pace of change means factories need to be adaptable from day one. If you build for stability rather than rigidity, you give your business space to grow rather than space to fail.
“The producers who will thrive are those who view investment not as isolated capex projects, but as long-term resilience strategies. In that context, the role of engineering partners becomes less about installation and more about shaping systems that can respond to whatever the next decade brings.
“Protein production is an essential part of the UK’s food landscape,” Hart concludes. “The challenges are real, but so are the opportunities. If we design with resilience in mind, we can build facilities that actively benefit from change.”
