The Dorothy Parkes Centre, located in Sandwell, near Birmingham, is a community centre in the truest sense of the word.

With over 750 visitors each week, and a programme of activities ranging from allotment gardening to taekwondo, it’s a place just about everyone to come together and have fun learning new skills.

In early 2024, due to their dedicated work in the community, they received a grant from ‘Global’s Make Some Noise’ campaign..

Using it to develop a ‘dream kitchen’ was the top priority for Jodie Griffiths and her team. If you read on, you can learn how Steelplan made the transformation happen.

Jodie, can you tell me more about the Dorothy Parkes Centre?

There’s a lot of different ‘arms’ to what we do at the Dorothy Parkes Centre! We hire it out for community groups, such as karate or dance classes, and in all, we deliver 21 projects. These also include a bereavement support group and family law clinics – all of which fundamentally aim to support our community and provide them a better quality of life. 

We also rent our space out for private parties on the weekends.

You had a kitchen as well – what did you use it for?

It was mainly teas and coffees – the odd sandwich, too, but nothing spectacular.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we had an NHS group visit who did life skills classes where participants learned how to cook basic things, but it had to stop in light of the lockdowns.

Can you tell us anything about your previous kitchen?

Well, it wasn’t really conducive to anything. The wooden units and chipboard worksurfaces weren’t in good condition, there was an old oven with a few hobs, a single microwave, and a small fridge that was inaccessible and outdated. In fact, it was more or less the same kitchen as we had when we opened up the community centre 24 years ago.

Were those the reasons that you changed the kitchen?

That was partly it, but the other side of it was that we wanted to start offering cooking classes, and our kitchen wasn’t up to the task. It was very much a domestic-style kitchen, but we had more commercial needs.

So, that’s why we started to put out bids for funding.

Can you tell us what that experience was like?

We actually started putting out bids for funding for the kitchen as early as 2017, however it was only in 2023 that one of these was successful, with ‘Global’s Make Some Noise’.

Their funding pool, over £3m, was shared between 42 community groups throughout the UK, and we received funds for a new kitchen and the delivery of family and adult cooking classes.

Is that when you reached out to Steelplan?

As part of the process of going to tender, we received 5 or 6 quotes, but only two made it through to our final shortlist. One kitchen installation company offered something that looked pretty, but was akin to a domestic kitchen. 

The other was Steelplan, and you could see the difference in what they offered, and we knew that the semi-commercial kitchen would be the wisest option for the long-term.

Was the 3D computer visualisation of your new kitchen important in making that decision?

Yes, we really appreciated it. We had a lot of freedom to see a design, move the units and change the colours as we wanted. 

It let us play about with a lot of designs and see what a ‘dream kitchen’ could look like at our community centre.

Once you settled on a Steelplan kitchen, how was the installation process?

The team, particularly Martin (Steelplan) and Simon (Covenant), were fabulous. 

From start to finish, the project took just 7 weeks, and because of all the prep work that had been done beforehand, they were able to get started within 10 minutes of walking into our centre for the first time.

They were so helpful, and never did anything without asking us – we felt our opinion mattered all the time.

Can you tell us what you are enjoying about your new kitchen?

Our new kitchen has resolved our biggest problems from before. 

We now have electric hobs, 3 ovens instead of one and 3 microwaves.

For our classes, we have dedicated ‘stations’ that a few people at a time can use – these stations are also low enough to be accessible for those using wheelchairs – and now that we have enclosed the space, it’s ready to host classes. It’s also in a brilliant Paprika colour that’s vibrant and brings people in.

We have just had a grand opening, and we know that 20 years down the line, it will still be a fantastic kitchen.

Can you tell us what’s next for your cooking classes?

It’s very exciting. We have the funding for more than 60 cooking classes from ‘Global’s Make Some Noise’, and we have a community allotment where we hope to do ‘From Plot to Plate’ cooking sessions, as well as use what we make to fill our community fridge.

We’re also looking forward to ‘cooking on a budget’ classes, using slow cookers, and starting with some of our family cooking classes during the holidays, too. 

We have so many different people visit the centre that the possibilities really are endless.

And here is the result…

We would like to thank Jodie for her time.

If you, like Jodie, need to refresh your community centre kitchen, it’s easier than you think with Steelplan to get your dream kitchen.

You can start by seeing what a semi-commercial kitchen could look like in your building with a free, 3D visualisation – so, why not reach out to learn what your dream kitchen could look like?