New centre for culinary arts

The proposed 25m National Centre for the Culinary Arts is to seek design consultancies to carry out a range of design tasks in preparation for its launch.

The centre is backed by top chefs including Prue Leith, Gary Rhodes and Delia Smith and is intended to be a culinary theme park. However, while the centre will need designers to work on a variety of tasks including interior spaces and exhibitions, recruitment is still a long way off.

“We have only just secured a site [in Stafford] and that hasn’t been bought yet. We’d probably be talking Easter to summer before we considered design consultancies,” says a spokeswoman for Leith.