A COMMON SIGHT
Back in the summer and autumn it was a common sight to see perspex or glass screens on the counter and bars of all the hospitality and shopping establishments we loved to visit. Some restaurants were even resorting to erecting bubbles around each individual tables. This seems to be a continuing trend despite heard immunity being on the horizon with the vaccine for Corona Virus being rolled out faster than a rat down a drain pipe! Being a designer, manufacturer and installer of fully bespoke cabinets, counters, bars and serveries, you can’t really just go online and purchase a Covid screen, you have to develop a system that works with what you’ve got.
We have been flat out including screens with our counters, It can be a tough gig sorting out flat panels of perspex, but every now and again we have to sort a curved one, this is when things get both complicated and expensive.
BEN’S COOKIES
We have seen a busy start to the year which is great, part of this workload consists of screens for our top customer, Ben’s Cookies. Now we already install glass sneeze screens on every single shop! This protects the cookies from customers breathing or as the name suggests, sneezing on them. Where they do a great job of this they don’t protect the staff from the customers breathing, sneezing and now coughing. So we were asked to develop a sneeze screen which we could fit around the existing sneeze screen and protect the staff while still allowing for the cookies, coffee and gelato to be served with ease.
Having built every single one, Danny knows these shops like the back of his hand and was the perfect man for the job. Digging out old drawings and surveying the sites, he was able to design a chrome pole with a channel to take a 6 mm perspex panel which would protect the staff perfectly. He even designed a screen that could fit onto a gate. After setting it all out he ordered the perspex and the metalwork and when it arrived he could be seen in an area of the workshop going through the many panels and assigning them to the relevant shop. No small task. He then had a few long days travelling down to London, Bristol, Bath, Reading and Cambridge to install it all. I’m sure you will agree, his hard work has paid off and it looks awesome!
HOSPITALS
As our specialty is curves, many of our counters and nurse bases are curved. So the only way to use a screen and maintain maximum working space is to use a curved screen. The process for this, is to set out where you want the screen and plot the radius, you then send the radius and sizes off by way of a drawing to specialist acrylic fabricators who then heat the acrylic over a former which is set at the required radius and allow to cool. A lip is then welded to the top and bottom if required.
The photo show’s what we liked to call ‘The Fish Bowl’ a counter top to ceiling perspex screen. This is taped and siliconed in place so there will be no repair to the counter required when it is hopefully eventually removed.
DOGS TRUST
We are currently loving our new working relationship with Dogs Trust. With supplying bespoke counters to the charity they require a bespoke screen also, so we developed a system where we can erect a free standing screen which completely protects the member of staff. These also have a curved section, so the same process applies.
Josh and I took the long drive up to Darlington last week to install this monster. We were extremely pleased with how it went and have now learnt some little tricks and potential hacks for the next screen which will be fitted to the counter that is currently in production for the Cardiff centre.
JUST THE BEGINNING
We feel that this might just be the beginning. We have developed our systems with the many that we have already done, we have also learnt many lessons and are now very confident in providing this hopefully temporary requirement. Should you have any requirement for something like this, feel free to get in touch and we can either advise, arrange or install for you. This is definitely a new string to our ever expanding bow!
Have a great weekend!
Adam