Project Overview
As part of the ongoing programme of regeneration for existing campus facilities, the University of Worcester identified the need for improvements to the main onsite kitchen. As well as serving students with lunchtime and evening meals, the kitchen was also being used to service the re-heat catering facility in the new University of Worcester Arena.
The existing kitchen used 80 per cent of its floor space for cooking equipment and food preparation, with the remaining 20 per cent allocated to the food servery. The University was keen for staff and students to see more of their food being prepared and cooked front-of-house, but as an intrinsic part of the catering facility for the Arena, any changes made could not be detrimental to the kitchen’s capacity.
To facilitate these requirements a fresh approach was required, reapportioning the existing space to deliver a 60/40 split, doubling the food servery area. The servery area would then be able to accommodate a pick and go pre-prepared section, make your own pizzas, hot plates, a salad bar and freshly baked breads with a choice of fillings. This kind of ‘grab and go’ approach is very efficient and improves the freshness and quality of the food to ultimately increase sales and revenue.
The building where the kitchen was located had a dated infrastructure, so any changes needed to be made without increasing the connected load or reducing the catering capacity of the kitchen. The refurbishment work also needed to be sympathetic to future upgrades to the infrastructure.
As a trusted consultant to the university, ONE Creative environments (ONE) was asked to assist on the procurement of building services for the kitchen project to make sure the work was carried out to the highest standard, while ensuring continuity of food storage and preparation throughout the duration of the project for the students and staff who regularly used the facility.
