Modular Kitchen Facility at Broad Oak Primary School

Broad Oak Primary School is a 500-pupil school located in East Didsbury, South Manchester. Up until now, school meals had been produced on site via a timber framed kitchen building, but due to a number of structural issues which deemed the facility no longer fit for purpose, the school required a new state-of-the-art facility. Manchester City Council produced a number of cost models for its replacement, with a permanent specification offsite constructed modular facility considered the most financially and operationally appropriate.

In February 2019, PKL were appointed by Manchester City Council, to complete the design of a new Permanent Specification Modular Kitchen facility at Broad Oak School. The design work was used to support Manchester City Council through all stages of the project, from the initial feasibility / stakeholder approval, right the way through to construction status.

Planning for the project was approved in September 2020 and after a period of detailed design, followed by a tender process for the Enabling works, Manchester City Council appointed a main contractor as Principal Contractor in September 2021. PKL were immediately appointed to undertake the works associated with the construction, delivery and fit out of a 11.4m x 7.2m permanent specification modular kitchen facility.

Working closely with Manchester City Council and their appointed food service contractor, PKL produced a kitchen design layout to enable the caterer to produce exactly what was needed which would enable them to produce nutritious meals easily and efficiently for the 500 pupils. The requirement was for the new modular facility to be linked to the current school building so that the meals could be brought out of the kitchen and served straight away in the dining hall, with no need to go outside. This also meant the modular kitchen was required to blend in with the existing school and thus, the brick used for the exterior of the new kitchen building needed to match the brick of the front of the existing school building, so that the link between the two buildings was seamless.

The Modular units were delivered and unloaded using a 60ft crane on the 12th of January 2022 and after just 30 working days on site for the PKL install team, the permanent specification, building regulations compliant, offsite constructed modular kitchen facility was handed over for use by the School.

​Location: Broad Oak Primary School
​Requirement: Offsite constructed modular kitchen facility.
​Supplied: 11.4m x 7.2m modular kitchen facility, permanent specification
​Duration: 4 months from contract award to handover with only 30 days on site.