Before the coronavirus pandemic hit, IFSE in a joint venture with Electrolux Professional, developed and delivered a high efficiency commercial kitchen and servery space for the new Watch Tower Chelmsford development.

As part of a wider relocation from offices in central London, the new BREEAM rated development is home to the central offices and spaces of Jehovah’s Witnesses Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain. The sprawling 34-hectare live/work campus houses residential, commercial, leisure and production facilities for the religious society.

The team were tasked with designing a highly efficient commercial kitchen and servery space that achieved BREEAM outstanding status and would provide meals to the residents and commercial guests. IFSE and Electrolux undertook a period of research to understand how the on-site team interacted with the previous kitchen and dining spaces to better understand how the areas would be used in the new facility.

Story continues below Advertisement

The result was a 5 year project development that completely overhauled the catering operation and proposed a new state of the art Electrolux commercial kitchen suite at the Watch Tower. The space employed Electrolux Ecostore bench and upright refrigeration. Heavy duty, high capacity modular Electrolux 900XP prime cooking equipment was utilised to provide two meals every day for up to 400 diners at any one time.

Understanding the BREEAM and environmental requirements of the site, a rack type conveyor dishwasher was designed into the scheme. The green&clean equipment would allow the on-site team to clear up to 500 meals per peak hour of service whilst saving a potential £3,240 per year in reduced water consumption and waste by using only one glass of clean water per rack.

In the main servery space, modular counters were utilised to allow the catering team to change the configuration as required, creating flexibility in the multi-use restaurant and events space.

John Moores, director at IFSE, said: “Understanding how the on-site team and diners utilised the space was vital to delivering a scheme that was ticked all the boxes. The modern and efficient kitchen stands at the heart of the Watch Tower. It was a pleasure to continue our longstanding partnership with Electrolux Professional and we look forward to our next joint venture.”