State-of-the-art Modular Café and Dining Facilities at 4 RSPB Sites

Location

RSPB Conwy, RSPB The Lodge, RSPB Frampton Marsh, and RSPB Dee Estuary

Requirement

Introducing a good quality food and beverage offering at each reserve

Supplied

Custom Modular Café and Dining Solution for each reserve 

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is the UK’s largest nature conservation charity, focused on protecting wildlife and habitats. Founded in 1889, it manages over 100 reserves, safeguarding diverse species and ecosystems. The RSPB advocates for environmental policies, conducts scientific research, and engages the public in conservation. Through its network of volunteers and supporters, the RSPB works to ensure a thriving natural environment for future generations.

Over the years, there has been a significant increase in footfall at RSPB sites as more visitors seek to explore and appreciate the natural beauty these reserves offer. With this growing interest, there is a heightened demand for comprehensive visitor amenities, with one of these being a good quality food and beverage offering.

RSPB Conwy, RSPB The Lodge, RSPB Frampton Marsh, and RSPB Dee Estuary each welcome approximately 40,000 to 50,000 visitors annually. Recognising the need to enhance visitor experience, Ross Frazer, Senior Project Manager at RSPB, identified these four sites as the first to benefit from new and improved food and beverage amenities.

That’s where PKL came in, leaders in the supply of state-of-the-art Modular Café and Dining Facilities.

Working with PKL from the offset, PKL provided customised solutions that perfectly aligned with RSPB’s vision for enhancing visitor experiences – facilities that were highly adaptable to the unique environmental and aesthetic requirements of each reserve. This meticulous attention to detail and commitment to sustainability made PKL the ideal partner for RSPB’s ambitious project, ultimately transforming the visitor experience across these key sites.

Acting as principal contractor, PKL took on a comprehensive role, overseeing every aspect of the process from supporting with planning permission, arranging groundworks, building steps and ramps, through to coordinating site preparation, managing logistics, and ensuring compliance with environmental and safety regulations.

Delivering and installing these Modular Cafes was no small feat, facing challenges such as tree preservation, access to remote locations, road closures, reserve closures, and adverse weather. However, PKL adeptly managed these obstacles. The beauty of modular construction lies in its efficiency and streamlined process: rapid installation, easy craning, sectional delivery, and the ability to prepare the site in advance. These advantages ensured a smooth and successful implementation despite the logistical hurdles.

Ross commented, “For me, who’s been here for 11 and a half years and having worked on a lot of building projects with the RSPB, and to see a building go in in a matter of hours where I’ve been on building projects that can take 5 months to get the foundations finished, that’s the sort of thing that just blew my mind, and for it to happen so smoothly, with nothing to go wrong, is a testament to PKL”.

Ross aimed to create spaces that would encourage visitors to extend their stay at each reserve, and these new facilities have successfully achieved this goal, increasing the average visitor duration from 3-4 hours to nearly half a day.

A key requirement for the Modular Cafes was their seamless integration into diverse environments. Full floor glazing was essential to allow visitors to enjoy views of the outdoors while dining inside, yet it needed to be wildlife-friendly, therefore, anti-bird strike glass was used throughout.

The new facilities have garnered positive feedback, increasing footfall, on-site duration, visitor satisfaction, and revenue across all four reserves.

Ross commented, “It’s been great, we’ve really enjoyed working with PKL, they’ve been a great contractor. They’ve listened to what we want and helped us achieve what we wanted to”.

He went on to say, “We’ve had really good feedback – all of our staff and customers are really happy, and opening these cafes has just proved that this is the next bit of the visitor experience that was needed. We’ve had queues out of the door, and everybody is really happy”.