Who Put That There?
How stuff shows up where you don’t expect it.
Everyone on your design and development team has an agenda, priorities or areas they need to focus on. That’s just reality and not an indictment of any professional discipline.
Many different professionals are working on the design and construction of your restaurant. These disciplines are usually coordinated through your architect and any decisions that impact your space planning should be brought to your attention through weekly construction meetings. Unfortunately many of these decisions fly under the radar. They don’t seem consequential to some members of the design team who aren’t thinking of your operational efficiency. Again, not an indictment of any professional, just reality.
Often, in the process of resolving the details of design, your designers communicate among themselves and reach conclusions that may not be in the best interest of your day to day operation. Putting utility meters in a closet may impacts storage. Carving out a room for electrical panels rather than utilizing an available corridor that already has the required clearances takes away valuable space. Putting a control valve in your prep area because that is the most convenient location or mounting disconnects, sensors or other devises on walls where they limit shelving may seem like simple, necessary solutions. But they are not! Hand sinks require soap and paper towel dispensers to be mounted above or near them. Putting fire protection pull station or thermostats above these fixtures limits your available wall space, requiring you to take up valuable adjacent wall space for these fixtures. The location of these required elements and accessories should be reviewed against the kitchen and bar equipment drawings to determine if there are any conflicts with tall equipment, shelving or mobile equipment. And, of course, when in doubt, RFI.
Even the location of light switches, sound control knobs, soap dispensing equipment, hood fire suppression tanks, fire extinguisher cabinets, first aid kit or other seemingly innocuous, but necessary equipment should be reviewed and planned. In an ideal world, these items would be shown on the construction documents. But that is rarely the case.
You need to be made aware of any of these proposed solutions. Don’t accept the, “it’s required by code” or “ there is no other spot for it” response. It is often as easy as moving a control to the other side of a wall, mounting equipment higher on a wall or on a mezzanine level over an area that can have lower ceiling heights.
Space in restaurant kitchens, bars and throughout the restaurant cannot be wasted. Wall space is always a valued commodity. Stay involved and aware of design decisions that will impact your daily operations. Walk the site during construction to check for these details. While it may not be your responsibility (“…what am I paying you for!”), what is easy to fix on paper or early in the construction phase, is very expensive or impossible to undo after construction is completed.
