Design House leads Group-wide effort to breathe new life into historic buildings…
Our (The) Design House division offers a distinctive, highly consultative led service to our clients compared to Airedale Catering Equipment, which is our Group’s principle commercial catering design and installation division. An independent company in its own right, The Design House is headed by two of the most experienced foodservice consultants in the industry.
This experience and consultative led approach proved to be an invaluable asset for a novel twist on the food hall concept. Market Halls’ first two sites both sympathetically restore old buildings in London’s Victoria and Fulham respectively. Victoria has up to 13 “stalls,” each serving fresh, nutritious food from around the UK and World, including from Japan, Malaysia, China and Latin America. The food stalls are complemented by a coffee stall and two bars, with a third roof-top bar planned for Easter, which will afford stunning views of the London skyline. A number of these stalls are pop-up/start up food concepts; others have a handful of traditional restaurants across the Capital and which have the ability to tailor their food offering to the respective locations.
Over a two year period, The Design House worked tirelessly with Market Halls to develop this concept from initial plans through to installation. As one of Market Halls Construction Managers admitted: “this would not have happened without Design House’s expertise, patience and advice.”
One of the many benefits of working with The Design House is that it can draw upon the wider Group to offer its clients with all of the advantages working with Airedale provide. In particular, all of the fabrication, bespoke ventilation systems (each one tailored to the specific stall/food offering) and Cold Stores were all designed and manufactured by our own Airedale Manufacturing divisions Caterform, Airedale Ventilation Systems and Airedale Cold Stores. All of the installation was carried out by own team of Engineers, including commissioning by our award-winning service division Airedale Technical Care. Whereas many competitors would (further) sub-let these services out to third parties, the Design House could deliver the whole project, from concept to delivery within the one Group.
Since the two Market Halls opened last autumn, both have thrived. As the Construction Manager continues: “on a peak day, we can serve up to 8000 meals in Victoria alone!”
If you are in London and using Victoria train station, pop over the road to sample Market Hall yourselves. If you are visiting Chelsea FC’s Stamford Bridge, the Fulham Broadway Market Hall is no more than 200 metres from the main entrance. We will keep you posted for future developments for Design House on this blog and across our social media channels.
