This was a project that was tendered through the Public Procurement Directive as part of a larger project to refurbish several floors of the European Medicines Agency HQ in Canary Wharf. Overbury won the contract to undertake the fit-out works and Martek were nominated to them by the client to install the new coffee and deli bar.

The nomination came as a result of the successful refurbishment of the servery area the previous year. The design was completed by Ferro Design who were working directly for the client. Due to the increase in staff and delegate numbers on site, the client needed to increase the capacity of the seating area and wanted to enhance the current coffee bar service to include a deli, which would relieve some of the pressure on the servery. The existing wash up also need to be reviewed to cope with the increase in numbers.

As part of Ferro Designs work, they liaised with Meiko and other specialists on the tray clearing issue. It was established that the actual washing machine could cope with the numbers however the existing tray carousel did not have sufficient capacity and staff were reluctant to use it due to the height of the panniers.

The refurbishment was an ideal opportunity to review the set up and recommend changes that would not only speed up the tray clearing process but make the wash up much more ergonomic for the catering staff and make the entire tray clearing process DDA compliant. We also took the opportunity to introduce recycling in to the process.

A state of the art conveyor system was installed and after a brief spell of customer re-education, was and still is a great success. The client was keen for us to salvage what we could from a recycling and cost perspective and therefore the coffee and deli bar works comprised of some parts of the existing coffee back bar counter and granite being retained for re-installation in the new location. Hanex solid surface was used for the new tops in lieu of granite in order to keep the costs down and all the catering equipment was re-used. The new coffee bar section of the counter featured a Lumicor recycled glass panel, which we illuminated from behind with Malham LED flexible tape. Menu signage was supplied by Ferro Design.