Founded in 1938 and located in the London Borough of Sutton, Epsom & St Helier Hospital is a large NHS hospital with over 600 beds, offering a full range of hospital services, including a 24-hour accident and emergency department.

As the hospital had got bigger, the existing small catering areas weren’t able to keep up with the growing needs of the hospital staff and patient numbers.

Originally put to tender, ifse partnered with Mitie Catering to put together a design presentation with concept ideas to find a solution to the problem, competing against an undisclosed competitor. As a result of the outstanding design and innovative use of space, ifse won the contract. The refurbishment would now occupy a fourth-floor ward and a much larger space than the previous catering areas.

The Design

The design included a bespoke linear style main counter with wood vinyl effect and clear white counter tops. An Electrolux Libero mobile cooking unit was built into the counter top to give the chefs the ability to enhance the food offering and create quick dishes for people on the go. The Libero cooking unit also features an innovative Anti-Odour system with triple filtering ventilation to reduces odours emitted during cooking.

Bright and colourful bench seating with a central grab-and-go POS food display was installed adjacent to the servery counter to allow for a ‘one way’ system that would improve the flow of people in the restaurant.

The most unique part of the ifse design included a quiet area with noise cancelling booths for staff and patients to relax in a tranquil environment.

Back of house equipment included durable Fagor prime cooking equipment and refrigeration, plus the versatile Unox combination ovens and a new SpeeDelight from Electrolux.

SpeeDelight creates Chef-worthy snacks in a compact shell, thanks to the combination of 3 cooking technologies: contact plates, infrared radiation and microwaves meaning your food is crispy on the outside and perfectly cooked inside. Learn more here.

The Result

Logistically, the location of the restaurant on the fourth floor made supplying large equipment difficult and working near noise sensitive and busy locations within the hospital. However thanks to our experienced building and installation teams, the project was delivered on time and on budget.

The result was a bright, inviting and uplifting catering area that expanding capacity for a growing hospital and catered for all types of staff and patients.

Jeremy Henshaw, the director dedicated to the project, summed up the refurbishment with the following remarks:

“Logistically and operationally this was a difficult but fantastic project to be a part of, thanks to the hard work of our projects manager, Paul Hume, the implementation of this project was a great success. Our partnership with Mitie and the team at St Helier Hospital meant that we were able to create a modern, uplifting and inviting area for patients and staff to eat and relax in. We’re excited to extend this partnership further into different locations with Mitie and the NHS in the future”. 

Jeremy Henshaw – Associate Director