The Artisan café (formerly known as The Café in the Square) is situated within Solent University’s Sir James Matthew building and sits within the heart of Southampton City Councils redevelopment of the Guildhall Square area.

The café is run by contract caterer Sodexo and is operated as a high street commercial café as well as a subsidised student café.

Prior to the refurbishment, the Café was in need of much modernisation and as a result was very underutilised. In a bid to win a 10 year campus wide contract Sodexo contacted Ferro Design in order to put together a design scheme to address some of the operational issues as well as to propose a completely new interior scheme.

Martek were appointed to undertake the project management and complete fit out of the café. Works included removal of an existing ramped area, infilling the floor, installing a new DDA compliant ramp, converting a standard WC in to a disable WC, new partition walls, new flooring, decoration, new coffee/deli bar joinery, supply and installation of new catering equipment, all mechanical and electrical works.

The project was completed over a period of 5 weeks, which meant that it was notifiable to the H&S executive. As well as obtaining building regulations approval for the work, we also appointed an independent CDM Co-ordinator to the project. We obtained the necessary building control certificate upon completion and a complete bill of good health from a health and safety perspective.

The Café has been operational now for just over two months. It is proving very popular with students and the general public alike. It is also exceeding projected sales forecasts, which confirms this as a job well done from start to finish!