Extension to existing school kitchen to cater for additional pupil meals
Burnwood Community School is a Nursery and Primary School based in Stoke-on-Trent, with children ranging from pre-school and early years foundation stage to Key Stage 1 and 2. It has a three-form entry with a PAN (published admissions number) of 690, with 625 pupils currently in attendance.
The building was originally a secondary school built in the 1950s, but which closed in 1988. In 1991 the local authority moved the nearby infant and junior schools onto the site.
Burnwood Community School sees itself at the forefront of promoting a healthy lifestyle to the local community, including the provision of nutritious and healthy meals cooked on site. The school currently meets the Silver Food for Life standards and the meals are prepared using fresh and local ingredients. However, the kitchen was small and staff were struggling to prepare the required numbers of meals in the space available.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council allocated funding for a kitchen extension at Burnwood Community School. The previous kitchen was approximately 92 sqm in size and an extension was required to cater for increased intake. The City Council allocated a total budget of £450,000 for the kitchen extension.
Works to set-up the site began on 16th June, and the handover was completed 31st August 2025 in line with the new school year beginning.
Challenges
The deadline for the completion of the kitchen extension was the end of August 2025, in order for the kitchen to be operational for the start of the school year in September 2025.
This would allow 6 weeks for construction during the school summer holidays, which is the preferred construction period. If construction was anticipated to take longer than 6 weeks, consideration was to be given to the impact on the school’s operation and meal provision during the term-time period.
Seddon were able to complete the project in time in the end, meaning the site was handed over to the school and canteen team ready for preparation to begin for the new term.
Given the tight deadline, a thorough risk register was undertaken by Seddon to ensure risks such as ground conditions and surveys, if needed, would not impact the works, and how these risks could be mitigated.
