Having recently worked with The King’s Fund to redesign and build their ageing facilities into a state-of-the-art banqueting kitchen, we were delighted to be invited back to tender for the café refurbishment.

This time The King’s Fund challenged us to strip out and redesign their reception and café and in it’s place, design and build an innovative food service concept which could be dual purpose.

Innovation

To meet their brief, our designers had to think creatively and apply a high level of innovation, as we needed a counter that suited the need of staff and guests during the day, but the same counter needed to be flexible to accommodate evening events.

We therefore designed a central bespoke counter with a high quality shop-fit finish that would create the all-important ‘wow factor’. The central coffee counter allowed for our first feat of innovation, as with a push of a button, the coffee machine and water boiler lowered into the counter, removing it from sight when the café became a wine and champagne bar.

Our second feat of innovation focused around the mobile front counter section, which allowed the caterer to open the café for business during the day. The mobile counter section therefore doubled up as a high level eating table when in position. When pushed back the food offer was hidden allowing the caterer to redress the room for evening functions.

Multi Purpose Design

For evening events, it was essential that the main reception was separate from the venue, and we met this challenge by installing a clever bespoke interlocking sliding wall system that runs along ceiling tracks to separate the areas. During the daytime, the screens fold into the wall recesses, creating an open plan feel.

A variety of high quality Italian furniture was provided to suit the aesthetic of the design and the mixture of customers. The elegant interior finishes and unique counter fascia created a space that was warm and engaging.

The End Result

We were delighted to work with the King’s Fund and were overjoyed with the result. We received a motivating testimonial from Johnathon Morris, commercial director for the King’s Fund which we were very proud of.

“Thank you to all at ifse. Your onsite construction teams and teams of subcontractors for delivering such a fantastic project. We have again enjoyed working with you and are excited by the opportunities that The Green House will give us in the future. We have received nothing but positive feedback from our customers.”