Elwick Place
Advantage Catering Equipment Limited
Elwick Place is a stunning example of modern architecture with almost 10,000 square metres of leisure and restaurant space, situated right at the heart of Ashford Town Centre.
The development is four years old and had numerous empty units ranging in size from 175 square metres to 350 square metres.
We were awarded a design and build contract for three of the units. Our brief was to design a fine dining experience restaurant, an Italian restaurant, and a retail and office area. The contract was awarded to us by Stanhope Plc, the developers who originally created the space on behalf of Ashford Borough Council.
We liaised with each of the end users to create a scope and specification to meet their requirements and needs. The three were very different. There was a tenant’s handbook, issued by Elwick Place, which needed to be read and adhered to throughout the specification process to ensure the project’s success.
We had a three-month period prior to starting on site where we went through the complete design process and specification to ensure client satisfaction.
As part of the design process, we employed the services of two additional contractors to help with delivery of the project. They were Eco Electrical, for the electrical and lighting layouts, and KSL Air Conditioning, for the heating and cooling within the buildings.
We had to take into consideration the scale of the site (nearly four acres) with numerous service roads and entrances. The site is situated adjacent to HS1 and had an operational hotel within it, both of which brought additional technical challenges.
Client Satisfaction
We delivered a final product that all involved in the project could be proud of, which met the client’s full brief and exceeded their expectations in the quality of the finish and design.
During the course of the works we operated a staged snagging system so that when it came to the client’s final snagging inspection, only very minor issues were identified and these were all dealt with within the week.
As part of the after sales care we developed a maintenance package for the first year of operation, covering both ongoing and reactive maintenance, which the client has signed up to.
Gary Bourne, Development Consultant at Stanhope said,
“As Development Director of the Elwick Place Phase 1 project, I was on site and led many of the meetings with the Advantage team and I was incredibly impressed by the quality of their fit out work and how they moved all the projects forward at the same time. I found them easy to work with, prompt and extremely reliable. I wouldn’t hesitate to work with them again.”
Development Project Manager Matt said
“This project consisted of three units, two restaurants and a retail/office space.
We were aware of Advantage as a business for completing another unit at this development one year previous.
From a standing start Advantage clearly set out their plans, put safety processes in place and started communicating.
