Early age thermal shrinkage of cold store floors can be reduced by following a programme of cooling the enclosed environment to the operating temperature. The Controlled Environment Building Association (CEBA) have several publications of which the Second Edition (2007) of the IACSC (now CEBA) Guide ‘Guidelines for the Design, Construction, Specification and Fire Management of Insulated Envelopes for Temperature Controlled Environments’ suggests the following programme:

*Fourteen days is a minimum and may have to be extended indefinitely in order to achieve the required in-situ strength of the concrete under external ambient temperature as determined from test cubes stored on the surface of the slab.