100 KitchenPods Delivered to Northamptonshire Schools as Part of Hot Meals Initiative

Equipping Primary Schools That Had Nowhere to Put a Kitchen

A county wide hot meals programme is limited by the schools that have no kitchen and no space inside the building to create one. That constraint, rather than budget alone, is what determines how many schools a programme can reach. PKL supplies permanent modular KitchenPods for these sites, built off site and installed complete, and this project remains the company’s largest single education reference.

The Situation

Northamptonshire County Council embarked on a broad ranging programme to equip primary schools with kitchen facilities as part of its Hot School Meals programme, which was designed to raise the nutritional quality of school meals. The Council used a mix of refurbishing existing facilities, new build, and PKL’s KitchenPods. The KitchenPods proved particularly cost effective where there was no space within the existing school buildings to site a kitchen.

What PKL Supplied

Working closely with the County Council, PKL developed three sizes of kitchen, each capable of providing between 70 and 150 hot meals a day. Each was sized with additional capacity to allow for anticipated increases in pupil numbers. Where a KitchenPod could not be sited close to the existing buildings, regeneration trolleys were supplied so that food could be moved to the dining area at temperature.

KitchenPods are available in a number of designs with a wide choice of equipment layouts, ranging from the regeneration of pre prepared meals through to the hot production of school meals on site, so each school’s pod was specified against the service that school intended to run. Pods can also be supplied in a range of exterior finishes to help them sit alongside existing school buildings.

Delivered in Two Phases

The roll out was undertaken in two phases. During 2010, PKL designed, constructed and installed 32 KitchenPods, supplied on a contract rental basis. Phase two, carried out in 2011 and 2012, delivered a further 70 units, which the Council procured outright by capital purchase. The two procurement routes are still published: purchase for a one off fee, or all inclusive contract hire for a fixed monthly fee.

Maintaining 100 Kitchens Under One Agreement

PKL is responsible for the service and maintenance of the KitchenPods procured on contract rental and of those purchased outright. The maintenance agreement covers both the building and the equipment within each KitchenPod, and the county pays a single fee covering all parts, service, maintenance, labour, replacement equipment and preventative maintenance for every kitchen. A single agreement across an estate of this size is what makes the running cost predictable for the authority.

The Council said: “We have had a very good service from PKL and they have been very responsive to our needs. The new kitchens have also been well received by staff.”