Innovation Centre at Sleaford Quality Foods

Location

Lincolnshire
Sector

Industrial

“When I was briefed to design an Innovation Centre, I knew who I was going to contact. Having previously worked with APSS, I knew I could rely on them and trust them to deliver the project on time and to the highest quality, and they have. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the build team and feel very proud of our new facility.”

Trevor Holmes, Innovation Manager , Sleaford Quality Foods

The brief

Industry leader in ambient food products and ingredients, Sleaford Quality Foods, required a development and tasting kitchen to showcase new flavours and products to clients. The company wanted to impress its prospective clients by providing an unforgettable presentation space. This was key to maintaining its leading market position and keeping the business at the forefront of food innovation. The space also needed to be used for customer meetings, staff training and as an office.

The challenge

The area to be transformed was an unheated tractor shed. This needed to be converted into a new state-of-the-art, comfortable heated facility with working office space and suitable extraction and storage.

Outcome and client benefits

Sleaford Quality Foods now operates a fully functioning modern development kitchen, conference suite and stylish office space benefitting both staff and customers. This new space has helped the company convert more sales by matching the company’s impressive talents with an equally impressive innovation centre.

Ensuring the space was future-proof was a key consideration for APSS in the design and fit process as Sleaford Quality Foods will conduct onsite workshops and masterclasses in the future.

The details

APSS worked with Sleaford Quality Food’s top chef and the rest of the team to create a design which would help them to be more efficient in the kitchen and maximise the wow factor to impress clients. The team renovated and fitted out the full tractor shed with upgrades to the existing fabric of the building including heating, walls, floors, ceilings, lighting, fire-rated partitions, and doors.

In the commercial kitchen, APSS Joinery manufactured all the contemporary kitchen units including a bespoke u-shaped tasting table for the client to prepare and sample ingredients with customers. A large cold store was installed with shelving and ventilation for extraction fans.

The conference and meeting room suite upgrade included a sleek sliding folding wall to allow for flexible meeting space, a media wall, wooden slatted feature wall and bespoke display cabinets. The media wall allows for a discrete drink catering station with a cold drinks fridge, storage cupboards and a coffee machine.

APSS also supplied all the stylish furniture including a large meeting table, chairs, bar stools, sideboard, flip-top tables and office furniture.

In the office, APSS installed a new viewing window to see directly into the kitchen zone. The impressive new glazed wall on the exterior of the building ensures the office space is well-ventilated, bright and warm.