Projects
Tops Day Nurseries – Wimborne
Nestled in the heart of Wimborne, Top Days Nurseries is an educational facility dedicated to providing the best possible learning experiences to their children. Situated in a converted old pub building, their Early Education and Care setting circulate around the ethos ‘flexible nurturing care’, ensuring that they focus on each child’s individuality, passions and needs. The nursery itself sits within a conservation area, providing exceptional use of outdoor space and is one of the first within the brand’s family to have been fitted with solar panels in a bid to build a continual focus on sustainability.
The Client & The Project
Top Days Nurseries are proud to provide a balanced, no-added-sugar menu to all of their children since 2016. This has been specifically designed to support growth and development using the Children’s Food Trust Recommendations. The catering division of the company is headed up by Pete Ttofis who works hard to develop menus and recipes that the children love and that help their brains and bodies to grow healthily.
Aspen Services were enlisted to help support Pete in creating a functional and practical commercial kitchen design that could meet the needs of this bustling educational environment. While the original space had originally been used as a public house kitchen and featured a number of modern facilities, it didn’t offer the structural requirements to fit the company’s needs. Our team was enlisted to design a catering facility with suitable equipment, ample storage and a focus on both safety and sustainability.
The Journey
Working closely with Pete Ttofis and after a number of site visits, we built an initial picture of the space we were working with. Much of the equipment currently installed was outdated or problematic while many of the walls were unable to withstand load-bearing shelving – proving an issue for storage. We also placed the safety of the nursery staff and the safeguarding of children at the heart of the design as well as taking into account Tops’ approach to sustainability and environmental awareness.
While some of the equipment on-site was serviceable and usable, we needed to take into account the unique needs of this client. We fitted Foster Eco Pro G3 Refrigeration systems and Hygienic Modular 3-Tier Racking system alongside numerous 100% bespoke and fully welded stainless steel table units with integrated shelving unit and pan rail above the cook-line. Adding in plenty of secure and stable storage space alongside providing bespoke mounting brackets that factored in working height regulations and HACCP compliance, we created a space that perfectly fitted the requirements of our client.
Within 5-hours and outside of the normal nursery house, we stripped out, plumbed and installed the bulk of the kitchen space. On top of this, our experienced team organised full training on the new Rational iCombi Pro installed and we were delighted to be able to deliver this project under budget too.
The Challenges
The Tops Days Nurseries project largely ran smoothly, with the much-appreciated assistance of Catering Manager, Pete Ttofis. Key challenges that were taken into account during the design include the need to complete all work outside of food production times and ensure that HACCP and Health & Safety regulations for the safeguarding of children were considered at all times. After installation, logistical challenges due to the Coronavirus pandemic and driver shortages meant that we needed to schedule a courtesy visit to install one item that had been delayed. Text-book style communication and project management mitigated these challenges and handover was littered with smiles all around.