Building problems delay opening of eco-friendly Waterhouse restaurant

Eco-friendly restaurateurs Arthur Potts Dawson and Jamie Grainger-Smith have been forced to postpone the opening of their second site, the Waterhouse, by up to three months.

The team behind Acorn House, London's first eco-friendly training restaurant, was set to open the new eaterie in east London later this month, but problems with building works have caused a delay until early February.

Located on the banks of a canal in Hackney, the Waterhouse will be environmentally sustainable and will be run using entirely water-generated power.

A heat-transference system sunk into the canal will provide hot and cold water as well as an alternative to air conditioning, while the electric kitchen will include water-based fridges and make use of hydroelectricity.

General manager Grainger-Smith said the unique nature of the restaurant meant it was no surprise that the building process had hit problems, causing delays. "Setting up a completely environmentally friendly restaurant definitely makes things harder and complicates the process," he told Caterer.

"We're reinventing air conditioning and doing things that have never been done before, so it was never going to be easy.

"But we're not going to sacrifice what we stand for in order to open on deadline and are ploughing ahead. The project is still very much alive and coming together despite the delays," he added.

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By Kerstin Kühn

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