Palm Beach Casino - Berkeley Street Case Study

PALM BEACH CASINO - BERKELEY STREET - W1

Following successful earlier projects with London Clubs International, Court Catering Equipment were requested to commence design work for their next development, which was to be a total refurbishment of the Palm Beach Casino in the heart of London’s Mayfair. The date October 1997 – little did we know then that itwould be a further four years before we would finally complete our section of the project.

The whole casino was to be modernised from top to bottom – new decor, new furniture, new staff quarters, new bar and of course, a new kitchen.

The whole place had passed its sell by date and it was time to bring the casino into the 1990’s (which eventually turned out to be 2000 and then 2001 and finally 2002 when the main contractor finally completed his work). The project involved extremely difficult structural considerations throughout the building that required detailed investigation before each stage of construction.

Our Brief was to redesign the the main production kitchen and service area's, the wash up and stills section within the Kitchen. In addition, we were to create a new bar, bar food servery and back up pantry area. A new staff dining area was also included within our Brief, and finally a small restaurant dispense bar

To add to the theme decor, we decided to shot blast all the bar refrigeration glass doors, and pick out the new casino logo within the panel.

The initial design went through many revisions before Client approval. In early 1999, Court Catering Equipment were awarded the Contract for the fit-out of all the catering area's for the new casino.

Work started at the end of 1999, but was stalled abruptly when asbestos was found. This was to be a phased development, as London Club's had made the decision to keep the Casino open during the Refurbishment. It was important that each catering area was completed prior to the next area being released for Construction. The small Staff kitchen was to be completed first, and this would then operate as the main kitchen for the whole Casino for a short period of time, while the main kitchen was constructed and fitted out.

In the middle of March 2001, the main kitchen was handed back to the Client just a matter of six months behind the original schedule. The final major fit-out was the main bar, the hot and cold buffet unit together with the adjacent ambient back counter, complete with decorative granite work, pillasters and wall cladding.

The Installation was completed in April 2001 and has been extremely well recieved by the Casino's Clientele.

The very nature of the building, and the on-going operation meant that this Refurbishment was always going to be a logistical and contractual minefield, even if the rest of the Construction Area's went smoothly. The effect of all of the above problems made the whole situation extremely fraught for all concerned. However, by maintaining a flexible approach and keeping in constant communication with the Client, London Clubs, we managed to come through the Contract with a continuing healthy relationship.

Hot and Cold Buffet Counter in Bar Area.

London Clubs are pleased with the end product and grateful for our pro-active and positive attitude to all the problems that arose during the Contract, including looking for all possible solutions to a problem and a determination to drive the project through to a Practical Completion in a good time.

Since this project has been completed, Court Catering Equipment have successfully designed, specified, tendered and completed the Supply and Installation of Catering Facilities to two further Casino's for London Clubs, in their expansion into the provinces of Brighton and Southend. These have been equally successful projects, albeit with a lot less site trauma and contractual difficulties to overcome.