Although we were pipped at the post on the night, it was fantastic to have done so well. A sparkling night was had by all, too. Plus the odd glass of bubbly…
Space specified a mix of bespoke and eco-friendly cooking and refrigeration equipment, including a superb Charvet suite with induction hobs and a special system for cooling hot air from the oven which makes the kitchen easier to work in. The project also included equipment for the banqueting kitchen, extensive bar support and numerous features to help the brigade maintain a seamless 24/7, five star service.
Hotel Verta opens in early September.
In the event the four brave souls who tackled the walk – about as far away from a casual walk in the park as you could imagine – did themselves proud and were one of only six teams to finish inside the 16 hour time limit. A big thank you to everyone who sponsored us and helped us raise over £2000 for Action Medical Research to help children affected by disease and disability. Anyone who hasn’t put their hand in their pocket yet and still wants to can sponsor us by visiting our sponsorship page here: www.action.org.uk/sponsor/space
Firstly, Portakabin installed a spacious class room building with all services including water, waste and electrics ready for Space to fit work and cooking stations for 27 pupils to train at any one time. All the work was completed during the Easter break, with the academy losing no time in putting the new facilities to good use at the start of the summer term.
The academy plans to open up the new facility for the community as well as its own students to learn new skills.
Oxford University’s Lady Margaret Hall has an impressive new kitchen serving its refectory thanks to a new turnkey solution provided by Space. Working alongside the client’s catering team, the architect and building contractor, Space took care of every aspect of the project from design and supply right through to installation and handover of the gleaming new kitchen.
The new facility is fully self-contained and has a central cooking island with a small store, preparation and wash-up area neatly ranged around the compact area. A bespoke island extraction canopy and air input system also designed by Space regulates the temperature and makes the kitchen a better place to work. Great service, excellent attention to detail and a well-designed kitchen that meets all the college’s needs, says the client.
The only solution was to create a new facility from scratch that would provide an outstanding place to train next generation chefs for many years to come.
The Space-designed kitchen has a single central island with a Charvet range and high performance combination ovens offering 50% more teaching capacity and improved student-teacher interaction.
It’s already proving a great asset to the college.
One of the reasons the team worked with Space was our innovative Green Footprint scheme, which we applied across every area of the kitchen from refrigeration and cooking to waste disposal, so the Scarlet lives up to the high standards they set themselves to create a true eco-hotel. The resulting kitchen is one that’s easy to manage, practical from an operational point of view with good flows, and with energy-saving features a-plenty to help The Scarlet achieve their vision of being the country’s greenest hotel yet.
Last year, we made a commitment to put the team through the Certified Food Service Professional scheme from CESA, a new qualification specially designed for the hospitality industry to raise the bar by creating a universally recognised standard for knowledge and experience. We felt the course would really benefit the design and project management side of our business and make us even better at what we do.
The great news is that everyone who studied for the exam passed and that’s spurred everyone else on to do the same in the summer. A result for the business and the team, who received their certificates at Hotelympia this year.
A distinguished judging panel of industry experts voted the kitchen installation, which was masterminded by our own Steve Fear, the best in its league. Watch out for the awards write-up in the 28th February edition of The Caterer & Hotelkeeper, and if you’re at Hotelympia on 2nd March, for the Space team collecting their trophy!
The kitchen is the fourth we’ve done for Tampopo, working with MD Nick Jeffrey who also had a major hand in the design. In addition to having a layout designed to make service as swift as possible, this kitchen is unique in that it has a 10 metre cookline, the longest and thinnest we’ve ever installed. We’re glad it performed so well under pressure and looked the part too.