The Stamford Endowed Schools date back to the 16th century and today comprise three schools: Stamford Junior School, Stamford High School and Stamford School. Stamford School, founded in 1532 by William Radcliffe, and Stamford High School, founded in 1877, both continue to operate from their original sites in the centre of Stamford.
Clearing The Backlog
The Stamford Endowed Schools date back to the 16th century and today comprise three schools: Stamford Junior School, Stamford High School and Stamford School. Stamford School, founded in 1532 by William Radcliffe, and Stamford High School, founded in 1877, both continue to operate from their original sites in the centre of Stamford.
Stamford Girls High School provides education for around 600 girls aged 11 to 18, with sixth form teaching delivered jointly with Stamford School. The lunch service must accommodate high pupil volumes within a limited timeframe.
The catering service aims to provide a choice of healthy meals, with much of the menu delivered on a self-service basis, enabling pupils to select their meals while supporting efficient service during lunch periods.
The volume of crockery and cutlery over a compressed period places sustained pressure on the warewashing process, requiring items to be sorted, washed and stacked rapidly to avoid a backlog once pupils have finished eating.
The school’s existing dishwasher was unable to cope with these demands and had become increasingly unreliable, this resulted in frequent breakdowns and rising maintenance costs.
Efficient Equipment, Efficient Design
KCM Catering Equipment was engaged by Stamford High School to assess their requirements and design a system capable of coping with the high volume of washing required within a short timeframe. After an initial visit, KCM worked with its warewashing partner, Meiko UK, to develop a number of design options to present to the school.
As part of the process, the school visited another Meiko-installed site at Christ College, Cambridge, providing a fifirst-hand view of a similar system and the opportunity for discussion with an existing user to gain a clearer understanding of the proposed equipment.
The design had to take into account the limited space available for the new system, the diffificulty of installing a high-volume air extract system in the location and the client’s budget for the works. Following further discussion and finalisation of the layout and costs, KCM was appointed to install a Meiko rack conveyor system complete with all handling systems and tabling. Working in conjunction with the client’s principal contractor to prepare the space for the new setup, the system was installed and fully operational within five days. Full training was arranged by Meiko, ensuring the installation was ready for the new school term.
A Complex Conveyor
Stamford Girls High School provides education for around 600 girls aged 11 to 18, with sixth form teaching delivered jointly with Stamford School. The lunch service must accommodate high pupil volumes within a limited timeframe.
The catering service aims to provide a choice of healthy meals, with much of the menu delivered on a self-service basis, enabling pupils to select their meals while supporting efficient service during lunch periods.
The volume of crockery and cutlery over a compressed period places sustained pressure on the warewashing process, requiring items to be sorted, washed and stacked rapidly to avoid a backlog once pupils have finished eating.
The school’s existing dishwasher was unable to cope with these demands and had become increasingly unreliable, this resulted in frequent breakdowns and rising maintenance costs.
The new Meiko rack conveyor dishwasher at Stamford High School represented a lot of thought and client liaison to finalise the equipment and layout. The listed building presented a number of challenges that restricted the normal layout for a system such as this. Meiko worked very hard to find a solution for each of the issues and come up with a design that offered everything that the client required..
The result, whilst unusual in some respects, provides the school with a very high-volume warewashing solution that will cope with their demands for many years in the future.
Alistair White, Director – KCM
The result, whilst unusual in some respects, provides the school with a very high-volume warewashing solution that will cope with their demands for many years in the future.
Alistair White, Director – KCM
