A visually striking huge cube shaped dark kitchen could be coming to Acton in west London, to sate the demand for food deliveries.
(c) Dowen Farmer Architects / Planning application
The site is currently a metal shed used as a “dark kitchen”, a location where food is prepared for delivery to homes, but the company that owns it wants more kitchens. A lot more.
Their proposed cuboid kitchen would have space for 274 industrial kitchen modules and 7 Premium Kitchens on the upper floors to be rented out to home delivery restaurants. They currently have space for 23 kitchens, so that’s a huge increase in ready-meal capacity.
There would be public space on the ground floor for people to come and eat on site, but the bulk of the bulky kitchen will be mass production of packed meals to be whizzed around west London by bike couriers or sent to local restaurants and ready meal sellers.
It is projected the scheme will provide approximately 1,500 jobs, based on an average of four staff per kitchen plus the ground floor public areas. For local residents, the extractor fans in the kitchens will be fitted with electrostatic precipitators to prevent smells from escaping.
It is right next to the A40 though, so the concerns about a polluted locality have long been lost.
For the ground floor public access, they’re turning a shabby industrial location into a more pleasant one, which will fit in with the locality around it, as other industrial sites are earmarked for residential flats.
Architecturally, it’s a striking design, with a perforated metal facade that allows light into the kitchens while providing solar shade. The kitchens will be around the sides of the cube, with storage in the centre.
While there’s grumbling about the rise of “dark kitchens”, most of them are often in awkwardly repurposed buildings, so putting the kitchens in a purpose-built structure –and one with windows — will be good for the kitchen staff.
The planning application is here.
(c) Dowen Farmer Architects / Planning application
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