Leiths School of Food and Wine is the most prestigious and respected cookery school in the country, offering world class professional diplomas and a wide range of enthusiast cooking classes. Due to its popularity, the school has been refurbished to increase its capacity since first occupying the premises at 16-20 Wendell Road, London, W12 9RT. However with its ever increasing demand for domestic cooking classes and the recent shifts in home cooking, more radical reconfigurations were sought to cater for flexible use of the spaces, accommodating various needs.

In order to avoid an interruption to the term's courses, the work was planned in phases with the main construction to be carried out during the summer closure. The Phase 1 work focused on the replanning of the Second Floor: the standard teaching kitchen was upgraded to a demonstration kitchen accommodating high quality workstations and a show counter, allowing students to fully engage in a dialogue with a teaching chef. The staff office was reconfigured to introduce a new dining room.Being connected to the demonstration kitchen, it enables spontaneous use of both rooms for students to learn and socialise. The dining room houses a built in kitchen unit and wine fridge as its feature, and the materials and furniture were carefully chosen to create a homely atmosphere. The dining table, catering 12 seats, was a bespoke design to cater for various numbers in accordance with a class held.

The library was fully refurbished, and new built-in bookshelves and desks were installed for a more equipped study environment for the students.

For the next stages of work, a feasibility study of an extension to the Ground Floor and Second Floor is ongoing, and the Second Floor extension has recently received full planning permission.

https://www.leiths.com