Ready, Steady, Cook... Aldersbrook!

We proudly present this wonderful charity project set in our local community: A cooking classroom for the Aldersbrook Primary School.

The visionary head teacher Mr. Hughes identified a run down and outdated IT room as the perfect location for this unique project - a cooking school for primary school children with the aim to teach healthy cooking skills from an early age.

What initially sounded likely a simple task turned out to be logistically quite challenging. We had to fit six pupil's working stations - that's 30 kids - plus the teacher's show station into the existing space. As there is also limited wall space we could only allocate the water-based services along there and had to find a way of providing power to the central cooking area without destroying a beautiful, original parquet floor, which we uncovered and resin-sealed. And so the idea of flexible, mobile cooking stations was born. They receive the power from ceiling fixed power coils that have become a feature themselves. This approach also prevents children from accessing the power supply without adult assistance.

The bespoke, movable cabinets can be positioned as required and, as the hobs are mobile, they can also be used for other purposes such as exhibition pedestals, etc. All children's cabinets had to be of a height so that the junior chefs can use them with ease. Even the taps were chosen on the same basis.

We also had to come up with a design for a clever extraction system that is quiet and adequate for the space. We have managed to raise the existing ceiling height to emphasise the dramatic height of the historic space. In doing so we were also able to improve the fire strategy. The existing space was completely stripped back; that includes both the internal and external doors and windows, which now allow much more light into the revamped space.

It was an absolute joy to see the excitement of the kids when they saw their cooking school.