Bedford School’s catering facilities were in desperate need of expansion and upgrading due to the ever increasing student population and the aged & failing equipment.

The brief however was simpler than the task, as the kitchen, wash-up and servery areas could not be enlarged, so it fell to specialist designers Western Blueprint Limited to evaluate the catering needs and come up with innovative workable solutions.

These solutions included modern hi-tech equipment providing high outputs from small foot prints, ergonomic work stations to promote safe food preparation and handling whilst also considering labour efficiencies.

Chilled & frozen storage was achieved by a suite of bespoke walk-in coldrooms & freezer rooms. The kitchen ventilation system consisted of 7 specially designed extraction canopies, each fitted with UV odour control, automatic fire suppression systems, high brightness LED light fittings and tempered fresh air replacement.

The wash-up facility was designed to allow students to simply place their meal tray on a conveyor system which was cleverly concealed within perimeter storage units ensuring the trays are silently transported to the wash-up room for processing. This area houses a pass-through dishwasher fed with demineralised water dedicated for glassware & cutlery washing only, whilst a flight conveyor dishwasher provides the backbone of the wash-up operation. This dishwasher is truly state-of-the-art and includes a heavy duty pre-wash section, followed by twin wash zones, a twin section dual rinse, hot air drying tunnel and a heat recovery system. The heat recovery system makes use of the otherwise wasted steam to pre-heat the incoming cold water supply to vastly reduce energy consumption, which of course is great for the client and for the environment.

The servery counters were designed specifically for this project and are finished to compliment the dining area.