Catering Equipment Review
Scope of Project
Undertake a conditions survey for the catering equipment in 48 Schools across the borough and calculate lifecycle costs for each facility.
Focus – Lifecycle costs
The project involved visiting each school and logging the condition of every piece of catering equipment, to form a detailed asset register of appliances.
A database was formulated detailing the equipment in each kitchen and replacement costs were calculated providing the individual schools and the council with the predicted capital investment required over the next 10-years to maintain the facilities required to support the catering services.
The Client received details of how cleaning and maintenance regimes influenced the lifecycle of the facility.
As a result of our input future kitchen arrangements will be adopted to provide more energy efficient facilities, with a reduced carbon footprint and higher levels of production, from a smaller footprint.
Challenges
Some of the equipment was in excess of 15-years old and is no longer manufactured, therefore replacement costs were based on a comparable appliance in terms of capacity, size and duty.
Operational demands such as production levels and cleaning regimes influenced the life of the equipment. Where maintenance programmes were not in place and repairs were carried out on an ad hoc basis it was challenging to estimate both the life span and lifecycle cost of the equipment.
Outcomes
Equipment replacement often improves energy efficiency therefore recommendations were made on alternative models that would be more cost effective in the future operation of Reading Borough Councils Catering Services.
As a result of our input improved catering equipment layouts will be adopted to provide more energy efficient facilities. The will reduce the carbon footprint of the catering services, operated by the Council, and enable higher levels of production within a smaller footprint.