Vitruvius appointed to deliver catering industry’s centre of excellence in Bristol

The National Catering Equipment Centre (NCEC) in Bristol opened in September and provides a 20,000 sq ft state of the art, permanent, space which showcases products from more than 40 leading equipment brands under one roof, giving impartial advice and demonstrations on services and products.

This centre of excellence also includes a training and demonstration kitchen where an onsite development Chef is available to provide advice on equipment, menu development and onsite catering.

Vitruvius was responsible for the overall project delivery providing programme, design team, construction, cost and health & safety management to ensure the client achieved an ambitious 16-week programme for fit-out of this large multi-functional space which includes  18,000 sq ft of exhibition space, a state of the art demonstration kitchen and a mezzanine floor with office and meeting room facilities.

“Communication is absolutely fundamental to a project with this many stakeholders,” explained Mark Price, M.D. of Vitruvius.  “We held regular meetings with the designers, contractors and end user client teams so there was one point of contact throughout the entire process. Because we were appointed to project manage the works well before beginning the internal fit-out, we were able to save site time and cost on the project by co-ordinating and overlapping with the base build team through careful management of the site logistics through the health and safety planning.”

Laura Clarkson, NCEC Manager said: “Up until now the hospitality industry has not really had somewhere to call home.  Rugby has Twickenham and now the hospitality industry has the NCEC.”

This is not the first time Vitruvius has worked with Space Group.  The firm was appointed by Space as project, construction and cost managers on a project to provide student catering facilities at Greenwich University.

Vitruvius is a forward thinking Project and Construction Management Consultancy helping clients to deliver their business strategy by transforming the built environment in which they work to fulfil future business needs.

Nisbets has been supplying commercial catering equipment since 1983 and has offices in Bristol, Ireland, Holland, Belgium, Germany, France, Spain and Australia and exports to more than 100 countries worldwide.  The new National Catering Equipment Centre will act as a showcase and retail centre for the global business.