Located in the heart of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, The Gantry is a design-led 18-story, 291-room hotel complete with restaurants, bars, a terrace and events space. 

With a food, beverage and events offer that matches the stunning design of this landmark destination, the interior fitout of The Gantry has been a long and complex project. But thanks to the professionalism, innovation and creativity of all parties, hotel guests and other visitors can now take advantage of unrivalled facilities. 

The Gantry boasts two heavy duty kitchens, four bars including the highest rooftop bar in East London and two coffee/mezze facilities. And these showstopping catering environments have been made possible thanks to a strong working relationship between foodservice consultants Intelligent Catering Limited and design & build specialists Shine Catering Systems – working together to design, supply and install all kitchen, bar and front of house catering facilities. 

Three-phase approach

Designs were produced in three phases by Roz Burgess from Intelligent Catering Limited, working to overcome challenges including multiple operators and changes in design due to building constraints. At each phase, the supply and installation of catering facilities was put out to tender and Shine Catering Systems showed its expertise in winning all three phases.   

In phase one, ground floor preparation areas and cold stores were designed and installed to support the coffee/mezze facilities. The main first floor kitchen was also installed, along with two bars – serving guests of the hotel, which is operated by Curio Collection by Hilton. 

Phase two saw the addition two café units, with separate grill and bake areas provided to support the operators. 

Shine also installed a kitchen and rooftop bar on the 18th floor, together with another bar and cold stores on the 17th floor. 

Shine worked with Intelligent Catering Limited and main contractor ITC to supply equipment from a range of suppliers, in addition to fabricating its own countertops and ducting. 

Leon Hoyles, senior contracts manager at Shine Catering Systems, said: “We knew this was an exciting project from the start, located within the former athletes’ village of the London 20212 Olympics. We worked with the wider project team including joinery contractors on to make sure everything was delivered on time to a tight project schedule and we’re proud to have a played our part in the stunning end result.” 

Overcoming challenges

This was an incredibly complex project with different levels, multiple operators and a number of vertical and horizontal flows.

The design and installation team worked with three independent high-level chefs throughout the project duration and designs were constantly evolving due to changes with the building and services. 

The Gantry now boasts a best-in-class food and beverage offering, across multiple levels, serving hotel guests, local residents and those working in the local area. 

Leon Hoyles adds: “There are always challenges to overcome on a project of this scale, but we have the experience and in-house expertise to overcome them. One of the main things at The Gantry was to provide fire-rated cold room storage to meet strict safety requirements of the building, which was a bespoke element that we had to manage on and off-site. We sourced specialist fire rated panels and door which came with a long lead time but we were able to use our planning expertise to build that into our project schedule.”

Visit www.shine.co.uk.