Company of Cooks to benefit from £120m Southbank Centre revamp

Caterer Company of Cooks is set to benefit from a major £120m revamp project proposed for London's Southbank Centre.

A new building lining Waterloo Bridge that will house educational space, a range of new venues below existing first-floor walkways and a new area for children and families also feature in designer Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios proposals.

Company of Cooks currently operates four fixed sites at the South Bank Centre: Concrete, the day café and night bar next to the Hayward Gallery; Central Bar Terrace, made up of large outdoor bars in front of the Royal Festival Hall and the Riverside Terrace Café inside the venue; and the Roof Garden Café and Bar in the gardens installation on top of the roof of the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

The caterer's partnership with the Centre generates an annual turnover of £7m. It began in 2007 and is expected to run to 2021. Founder Mike Lucy welcomed the proposals.

"The Festival Wing is a brilliant project that will increase the programming and capacity for our retailing and hospitality activities under our partnership with Southbank Centre immensely," he said.

"We are playing a key part in its operational design and planning right now for the bars and cafes involved but the Royal Festival Hall remains unaffected. Plans include replacing the affected space with some pop up auditorium during the project and we will operate cafes and bars alongside that."

Lucy added that separate negotiations for a large new trading space on the Southbank Estate have concluded with terms agreed and planning permission granted.

The new concept is expected to open this summer, with further details to be announced at a later date.