Anglicare

Successful design and construction of a large and complex facility

Anglicare Sydney offers a range of aged care homes and community services. An important part of their care is catering for residents’ well-being through nutritious meals that appeal to different tastes.

Anglicare wanted to totally upgrade its meal production by replacing an old production kitchen with this new facility at Glendenning. The complex of warehousing, cold rooms, offices and industrial-scale kitchen is designed to produce more than 3000 meals a day for distribution to aged care homes in the region.

The project transformed an existing warehouse on the site into a 1200m² food production facility plus offices.

The Rohrig team took on the design and construct project, helping the concept evolve from the initial architect’s drawings to a state-of-the-art facility giving a productive and safe workplace for cooks, nutritionists and warehouse staff.

“Dining is so much more than what you eat. Meals not only bring nourishment, they can unite people.”

Design development

Rohrig’s experience of food and beverage service design was the key to creating the most efficient layout and streamlined workflows in the new facility. After creating a full-size kitchen mock-up for testing by Anglicare’s catering staff, we modified the original architect’s layouts to give a robust floor-plan which:

• Streamlined movements between food storage and kitchen
• Reworked waste area layout to give a larger sink and improved appearance
• Redesigned meat-slicing area to give better workflow and separation
• Allowed for wider doors and additional basins and pot-wash area
• Improved access from the back of the facility to loading docks.

Construction Challenges and Triumphs

The project specified all walls as cool-room panels and the ceiling above the kitchen was also a cool-room panel, suspended from the roof with access for the services and plant deck there. Coordinating access to this area for the different trades and plant supplies was complex and an important consideration during the construction planning phase.

The project ran on time throughout and was finished to the agreed date, despite negotiating the early COVID-19 restrictions in the final few weeks.
Anglicare is delighted with the new facility, which will make it easier to put good food on plates for decades to come.