Recent School Projects

We've installed several temporary and permanent catering facilities in schools in the last few weeks, with many schools preparing for September already. Here's a selection of photos from some school projects we've recently completed.

Cavendish Primary School in Manchester has had a temporary kitchen and dining facility installed for 18 months while their old facilities undergo a refurbishment. The large kitchen facility has areas for preparation, production, dry and cold storage, and dishwashing, as well as a dining hall, toilets and staff room.



We've also recently installed a Food Cube at Fairfield High School for Girls in Manchester. The school wanted to offer a catering facility with a more contemporary high street feel to particularly appeal to older pupils. The Cube has helped reduce queue times in the main dining hall and has taken pressure off the catering staff. It has also proven to be popular with users of the nearby sports hall, and the Cube is generating additional profits outside of normal school hours by catering for people using the sports facilities.



The same contract caterer also ordered another identical Food Cube for Tewkesbury School (above). They have been so pleased with the popularity and success of these first two Cubes, that they've just placed an order for a third!

Introducing the "Moon Cube"

We are hugely proud to announce that we have recently won the contract to install the first catering outlet on the Moon, in response to an anticipated increase in space travel in the next decade. Provisionally called the “Moon Cube”, it will be used to provide a range of drinks and light snacks to both astronauts and space tourists, as well as providing a stop-off point to break up longer journeys. While it is still in the very early design stages, it is anticipated that it will be ready to install within the next seven years, and there are also longer term plans in place to create a more comprehensive service station type facility if it is a success.

The Moon Cube is being designed with custom equipment to enable it to prepare and serve specialist space food. Due to the unique environment of space, food must be safe to store for relatively long periods of time, as well as being nutritionally balanced and easy to consume in low gravity environments, so this has an impact on the catering equipment required. Later this year, we will begin working alongside a number of suppliers to create new equipment designs suitable for the project, following scheduled discussions with a number of experts to identify required features and potential challenges.

Initial concept drawing for the PKL Moon Cube

The Moon Cube will feature a long-range beacon to alert passing space traffic to its presence, and transmit information on food and drink availability. An integrated computer system will also be used to communicate stock level information to the client on Earth, enabling efficient stock planning. In addition to these features, the project will also require us to implement systems for regulating the unit’s temperature, as well as air filtration and waste removal systems similar to those used in existing space vehicles.

Our highly skilled design team will be working to overcome a number of unique, site-specific challenges such as low gravity and pasteurised terrain, while it is anticipated that solar panels and generators will be used to overcome a lack of services on site. Our expert transport team are experienced in delivering to challenging locations, but this will be their greatest challenge yet. Throughout the design process, we will also be liaising with a number of agencies to discuss transport options, and as with all our projects, detailed delivery and lift plans will be created in advance. 

This project is a fantastic opportunity for PKL, and follows 25 years of success in supplying catering infrastructure to prestigious projects around the world. We have started the recruitment process for a number of specialist staff to take a lead on the project, including aerospace engineers and physicists, while our existing staff will be able to provide a wealth of experience and knowledge of catering design and installation. Although the deployment is several years away, this project represents the chance to build on our strong history of catering innovation and is the start of a new era for PKL.

For more information on our Earth-based Food Cubes, visit our website.

Food Cube Installation

One of our Food Cubes was installed at an academy school near Birmingham last week, ready for the new school year. We took a few photos of the installation, as clients often ask us what to expect!

The academy is expanding to take on more pupils this September, so contacted us needing additional servery space at breaks and lunchtimes. A PKL Food Cube is an ideal solution to enable the school to cope with the increased pupil numbers and continue to allow easy access to school food for all pupils and staff.

The bespoke exterior was chosen by the academy and was our first all-building wrap. Our Food Cubes are incredibly versatile in terms of the range of exterior options available, and we worked with the academy to help make their ideas a reality.

The Food Cube was built and fitted out here at PKL, so the finished unit was loaded up onto our truck ready to go. Driver Stuart and Project Manager Tim then took the Cube on a trip up the motorway to the academy.
 

The Food Cube is loaded onto the truck, ready to leave PKL

The Food Cube arrives on site at the academy

The truck's Hiab crane is used to lift the Food Cube into position

Once in position, the Food Cube is detatched from the crane

The Food Cube in its final position

Now the Food Cube has been installed, the next step is to connect it up to services to get it running. This only takes a few hours, so there is very little work to be done on site. The academy also has exciting plans to carry out some more work on the land surrounding the Cube, adding decking and other features to turn it into an outdoor café style outlet.

As the Cube has been installed during the holidays, this means that it will be ready for the start of the new school year next month, and the school’s catering operation will be able to hit the ground running!

If you'd like more information on our Food Cubes or would like to see how a Food Cube may be able to help your school or business, visit our website or feel free to contact me for a chat.

Power Station Outages: Catering Facility Solutions

Power Station Experience

When power station outages take place, either planned or otherwise, it often results in a significantly increased number of staff on site. When this happens, additional catering infrastructure is often required to feed the extra numbers and cater for any teams working on sites away from the main canteen. This is where PKL can help.

With most power stations located in remote settings, there is rarely a local community infrastructure to fall back on to assist in the welfare of the contractors. Additionally, due to tight security measures in place to ensure site safety, it is often time-consuming and impractical for contractors to leave site to get food.

In recent years, PKL has provided a number of outage feeding solutions for energy generation stations and energy related industries such as petrochemical plants. This extensive experience has enabled us to tailor our service to the very specific requirements of these sites, and our detailed preparation allows each hire process to run smoothly and efficiently. We know that site safety and security are top priorities, and understand that PKL staff working on site may require induction, security clearance and site escorts.

To minimise installation time and disruption on site, we carry out a site survey prior to delivery and appreciate the need to book in vehicles and drivers beforehand. We always issue risk assessments, method statements and lift plans prior to arriving on site, and our vehicles and any lifting equipment come with the correct certification. We also ensure our drivers and engineers are aware of any specific PPE and ID required by the site.

To demonstrate PKL’s commitment to safety, security and operational excellence, we have the approved accreditations to back up our knowledge and demonstrate our competence in practice. PKL is OHSAS 18001 approved for our occupational health and safety management systems and we also hold both ISO 9001 for process management and ISO 14001 for the implementation and management of environmental management systems. Furthermore, we are SAFEcontractor and CHAS approved and our site operatives are all CSCS approved. We are also a Gas Safe approved contractor and F-Gas approved for refrigeration.

PKL Solutions

PKL can supply a number of different options, depending on each site’s exact requirements.

PKL kitchens are designed to be dual fuel and can run off either gas or electricity. This is an important feature for power station hires as many sites will not allow gas use or storage for safety reasons. All our hot kitchens come with full under canopy fire suppression.

Our newly developed Food Cube satellite feeding stations are designed to ease the pressure on canteen servery lines and save remote workers from spending valuable time getting to and from meal breaks. Food is cooked and prepared in the main canteen and then transferred to the Food Cube located elsewhere on site, where it can be kept warm or refrigerated prior to being served. The Food Cube design allows for the retailing of hot and cold meals, snacks, sandwiches, hot and cold drinks.

Where a cook and serve option is required, we offer three different sizes of Portable Kitchen,all with service hatches to allow a grab and go meal service. These self-contained kitchens use brand name commercial catering equipment for the storage, preparation, production and service of meals.

We also offer fully integrated temporary catering arrangements that comprise multiple buildings linked together to provide a tailor made kitchen solution. These can be linked to an existing dining structure, or to a servery building where the contractors can collect their meals to be eaten in their own mess buildings. Alternatively, we can provide a temporary dining facility on request.

Want More Info?

Please feel free to contact me if you’d like more information on how PKL can help power stations with the provision of catering facilities.

Your Invite to PKL's Food Cubes and KitchenPods Open Day

You! Yes you! You're invited to an open day at PKL where we will be giving you the chance to have a look at our Food Cubes and KitchenPods, and even some of our temporary kitchens.

We're going to have a number of units set up at our head office near Cheltenham, available for you to have a look around, so you can get an idea about how a new permanent modular kitchen or modular servery might fit in your organisation.

In addition, you'll get to meet members of our team, including many of those who have been blogging for PKL recently, who will be able to guide you through the facilities that we will have on show, and give you an additional tour of our complete on site facilities if requested (it's quite an interesting one, we promise!).

Did I mention that we're putting on free food as well???

The open days are being held at PKL's offices, just outside of Cheltenham on the 13th and 14th of June, and all you need to do if you would like to attend is email us at postbox@pkl.co.uk and let us know which day you would like to attend, whether you are bringing any colleagues with you, and what time you are thinking of getting here.

PKL Food Cubes. Modular servery buildings.

What is a Food Cube and How Can it Help My Business or Organisation?

Food Cubes are modular servery kiosks which can be used for a variety of means. Although we think that the picture of one here is nice, it really doesn't show just how good these units are, and we think if you see one up close you'll be mightily impressed!

You can also see up close just how well these facilities are constructed, and why they are supplied with a 15 year structural warranty and 60 year BBA accredited design life.

Food Cubes provide a flexible solution too. Not only are they available in a wide range of sizes, but they are supplied with a bespoke range of finishes including vinyl wrap, brick slip, painted exterior or wooden cladding. This means that we can design them to fit in with your existing site, or you can design them yourself, to look completely how you want them to!

Food Cubes have been used for a variety of means. This includes schools who are looking to increase their catering outlets to help increase the number of their pupils who are staying on site at lunchtimes or to help relieve congestion in busy dining areas. Food Cubes have also be specified by leisure attractions looking to increase the number of catering concessions they have on site to maximise their revenue from catering sales.

They work too, and have been helping businesses and organsiations increase their revenue, create new catering concessions and help to increase their meal take up.

What Are KitchenPods and Why Should you be Looking at Them?

PKL KitchenPods. Permanent modular kitchen buildings.

Our KitchenPods are permanent modular kitchens, constructed off site and delivered complete with catering equipment, ready to connect to services. They are available as single pods in a variety of sizes, or can be linked together to form much larger open plan kitchen facilities. Our KitchenPods are ideal where you have no kitchen and are looking to introduce a meal service, or where you are looking to create more revenue generating space in your premises, for example by converting your existing kitchen into extra dining space or extra bedrooms. In addition, they can also be used to provide central production kitchens, used to service satellite kitchens or servery areas.


Like our Food Cubes, KitchenPods are available in a wide range of external finishes, which includes brick slip, wooden cladding, painted exterior or vinyl wrap meaning that they can be designed to blend in with your existing buildings on site, or made to be completely bespoke to your own design. Although they are permanent buildings, they are also relocatable, meaning that they can be moved around your site if your usage requirements change over time, and because they are modular buildings, should you decide that you need to increase your capacity over time you can add new modules to increase the kitchen size.

As they are constructed off site, KitchenPods can be delivered to you and ready to go in as little as eight weeks from receiving an order.

During the open days we will also be exhibiting a range of our temporary kitchen facilities, so if you have a refurbishment projects coming up, and aren't so sure about what a temporary kitchen is, then now is your chance to come and have a look at one.

To register your interest in attending the open day, please email your details to postbox@pkl.co uk, stating the day you would like to attend and a time, or phone PKL on 0845 840 4242.