BERTS PIZZERIA

Name: Bert's Pizzeria

Location: Brandesburton

Website: www.bertspizzeria.co.uk

Designer: Bradley Architecture

Scope: Bar + Restaurant Fit Out

A restaurant fit out project for Bert’s Pizzeria and Café, a new eatery at Dacre Lakeside luxury holiday park.

Dawnvale, working closely with designers Bradley Architecture, took the job from concept to completion, creating a theatre kitchen and stylish restaurant bar in a striking lakeside venue.

A concept scheme was put together to ensure the design we created enhanced the contemporary architecture and beautiful lakeside setting of the venue, while positioning Bert’s as a restaurant brand with honesty, integrity and good old fashioned values.

Furniture

The restaurant and bar furniture at Bert’s was a mix of character oak table tops and round zinc tables. In the bar area, the tables have steel bases constructed from reclaimed railway sleepers.

Turnkey Fit Out

We were originally brought on to undertake a commercial kitchen fit-out at Bert’s but when they saw our design concepts for the bar and restaurant, they asked us to restyle the whole venue.

Eclectic Design

Strong lines and stark design are complemented by Italian leather covered dining chairs and restaurant banquette seating, while an eclectic mix of reclaimed timber, distressed furniture, and metal shelving and fittings creates visual and textural interest.

Specialist Pizza Oven

A specialist pizza oven was imported directly from Italy for Bert’s Pizzeria. It was one of the first things to arrive on site, and we had to construct the kitchen around it.

Theatre Kitchen

Theatre cooking around a central pizza oven was a key element for Bert’s. We created a large central serving pass, and framed the commercial kitchen with a bar leading through to the restaurant.

Low Energy Cooking Technology

We installed a KERS heat recovery system in the kitchen. The system uses waste energy from the ovens to heat water, helping the venue to reduce costs and carbons.

Reclaimed Materials

We incorporated distressed and reclaimed materials as a prominent part of the restaurant’s visual brand, using reclaimed table tops, distressed wooden ceiling rafts, and wooden crates and pallets as focal items.

Contrasting Textures

Exposed brickwork, an industrial metal ceiling, and wooden rafts helped us to achieve an urban-rustic look at Bert’s, with the wood adding warmth and softer acoustics to the venue. The bar features steel cocktail stations and hanging glass racks, a granite bar top and wooden slatwork frontage.

Name: Sky Garden

Location: London

Website: skygarden.london

Scope: Restaurant Furniture

We were commissioned to furnish the restaurant at The Sky Garden. Far and away London’s highest public garden, The Sky Garden sits atop the Walkie Talkie skyscraper - as it’s affectionately known - and offers visitors a unique experience at the heart of the city.

As you might expect, the location of The Sky Garden36 floors above the ground - presented us with our biggest challenge on this project. We had to plan our work carefully, using the lift only during allocated times to minimise disruption.

Minimalist Design

Sleek, minimalist design was at the heart of this project. We created a range of bespoke, hand-crafted furniture for the venue, featuring clean lines, cool marble, and smooth, leather upholstery.

Logistics

The Sky Garden project was an exercise in logistics, with over 200 chairs and 60 tables being taken apart by hand in order to fit in the lifts, before being reassembled in situ.

BESPOKE TABLE TOPS + BASES

We manufactured a range of beautiful bespoke tables, designed according to the client’s exact specifications. The table bases were also Italian styled, set at a specific dining height.

Custom Italian Seating

We designed the dining and armchairs, and had them manufactured in Italy using the highest quality Italian leathers. These were accompanied by upholstered Italian low stools on chic chrome bases.

Herd Steak House Matlock

Name: Herd Steak House

Location: Derbyshire

Website: www.herdsteak.co.uk

Scope: Bar + Restaurant Fit Out

We carried out the design, build, and full interior fit out for Herd, a new steakhouse in the heart of the Peak District. Based in a historic former bank, the restaurant needed to be a perfect blend of contemporary and traditional.

Our initial brief was to take advantage of the character of the building but to ensure that the theme of steak and cattle was carried through the whole venue, tempting in passing foot traffic with an exciting new offering.

Diverse Design

Herd is situated over three floors. We installed three bespoke bars in total, one on each floor, each one continuing the theme of the restaurant in a different way, featuring a variety of materials and finishes.

Bespoke Commercial Kitchen

On Herd’s basement level, we fitted a bespoke commercial kitchen designed purposely to suit the steak-based menu, with an oversize synergy chargrill to accommodate the extra large Tomahawk steaks.

Basement Bar

We installed a bespoke bar within the columns of the old bank vault in the basement, which created numerous snugs and alcoves for individual seating areas, and added unique lighting from beer barrels to cages.

Ground Floor Bar

Herd’s main ground floor bar is a blend of style and warmth, finished with a distressed copper bar top. A bespoke beer cellar acts as a focal point, adding character

Sympathetic Addition

We installed a new mezzanine floor and first floor extension with floor to ceiling windows, making the most of the original feature ceilings, and the view over the Matlock Derwent Bridge.

Bespoke Restaurant Furniture

The entire restaurant was fitted out with our custom furniture, a tactile range of timber, leather and distressed metal tables and dining chairs, in-keeping with the steak house’s visual brand concept.

Neon Lighting

While the venue as a whole is fitted with energy-saving LED lighting, we created a custom neon light for the basement bar, working Herd’s new logo into a vibrant, cattle stamp-style design.

Challenges

Herd’s busy location and tricky access points made this a tricky project. Removing the original bank vault, which survived two break-out attempts in the 1960s, also took us longer than expected!

Bombay Central Harrow

Name: Bombay Central

Location: London

Website: thebombaycentral.com

Scope: Bar + Restaurant Fit Out

The inspiration for Bombay Central comes from the bustling railway station in India. We were asked to capture the essence of this busy, urban setting and combine it with a stylish, contemporary feel to match the exciting cuisine on offer.

We stripped out the venue to expose the original brickwork, which we carefully restored. The interior features cracked leather booth seating with handcrafted slat-work and industrial metal trellis work, and a variety of items imported from India, for a truly authentic feel.

Restaurant Fit Out

The whole restaurant fit out at Bombay Central, including two energy-saving kitchens and two bespoke bars, took just 10 weeks and was delivered on time and on budget.

Low Energy Cooking Technology

We used energy saving technology in the kitchens, including a KERS heat recovery system, bespoke low energy induction woks, and a specialist kitchen ventilation, odour and grease control system to comply with planning regulation.

Bespoke Bar

The focal point of the restaurant is the bespoke marble island bar with stainless steel cocktail stations, speed rails and custom-designed hanging glass racks. The centrally positioned bar helps to divide the restaurant’s more formal and informal dining areas.

Private Function Space

As well as the ground floor restaurant, carefully designed with operational flow in mind, we created a private function room and bar with cocktail stations in Bombay Central’s basement, helping to maximise the venue’s potential.

Levi Roots

Name: Levi Roots Caribbean Smokehouse

Location: London

Website: caribbeansmokehouse.com

Scope: Bar + Restaurant Fit Out

The team at Levi Roots originally came across Dawnvale when they were researching Southern Pride commercial meat smokers. They visited us to see our smokers in action, and to work on developing a menu of authentic food to be cooked on them.

After we impressed Levi Roots with our kitchen and bar concepts, they commissioned us to fit out their restaurant, bar and commercial kitchen. An extra challenge was the wood burning fire pit, acting as both a focal point for the restaurant and a functioning part of the cooking suite.

Open Central Servery

We created an open-plan, central island servery so diners at Levi Roots could enjoy the full experience of watching their food being cooked in the traditional way on the fire pit.

Bespoke Metalwork

A big part of the authentic Jamaican look at Levi Roots is the distressed bespoke metalwork. Corrugated roofs crown the island theatre kitchen, which is clad in mild steel plates.

Wood Burning Smokers

A big challenge was to get two large wood burning smokers into the restaurant. We had to take them apart, install them early, and work round them for the rest of the job.

FIRE PIT + VENTILATION

We designed and built a wood burning fire pit that was commercially viable, compliant with health and hygiene regulations, and still authentic in look and function. We added specialist kitchen ventilation to remove smoke and odours.