Temporary Kitchen and Dining Feeds 1,500 at College

Replacing a College Kitchen and Its Dining Hall at the Same Time

When a refurbishment takes out a college kitchen, it usually takes out the dining hall with it, and a temporary kitchen on its own does not solve the problem. The covers still have to be seated, three services a day, seven days a week, including for students who live on site and have nowhere else to eat. PKL supplies combined temporary kitchen and dining complexes for exactly this case, using linked units so that production, service and seating form one facility. You can see examples of tried and tested configurations in PKL’s Proven Package range.

The Situation

Reaseheath College is one of the leading specialist land based colleges in the UK, with nearly 7,000 students from over 110 local authorities and a dozen countries studying on a site of 330 hectares of farms, parkland, lake, woodland and sports facilities.

Funding for a £30 million refurbishment of the college was withdrawn in January 2009 following the collapse of the Learning and Skills Council, which put plans for a new catering building on hold. In January 2011 an alternative proposal for new catering and dining facilities was approved, and the college needed a temporary kitchen and dining facility to cover the six months the building and refurbishment work would take. PKL was appointed through the tendering process.

What PKL Supplied

PKL supplied a temporary kitchen with an adjoining dining room on a six month temporary kitchen rental. The facility served around 1,500 students, staff and visitors a day, including meals for the 500 residential students living on campus. It opened seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner, served as the dining area for students and staff, and also supported the college’s conference facilities, so it carried commercial trade alongside the daily catering operation.

The Outcome

Mark Embrey, Director of Resources at Reaseheath College, said: “The modular kitchen and dining facility has been a great success here at the college, and I cannot fault how quickly the team at PKL managed to get the whole process up and running, I believe it took less than two weeks. Many of the students have told me they find the facility a really great addition to the college, it has plenty of natural light and stays warm even in wintery conditions. I’m tempted not to give it back to PKL as it has been excellent.”

Lee Vines, Sales and Marketing Director for PKL, said: “We are thrilled that Mark and the staff and students at Reaseheath College are happy with their temporary kitchen. We have constantly made sure that we are in regular contact with the college, and that if any problems have occurred throughout the six months, that engineers have fixed them quickly and efficiently.”