IT’S the most visited art gallery in the world.

Now a Hampshire firm has installed its own work of art at the Tate Modern.

Headquartered near Southampton, HCE was one of four specially-selected UK companies to tender to install the central kitchen at the museum, which is situated in a former power station on the South Bank in London.

The 1,500 sq m kitchen has dedicated temperature-controlled food preparation areas, from vegetables and pastries to meat and fish.

Associated storage facilities, which are wirelessly monitored, include eight cold rooms and two freezer rooms, with eco-friendly heat recovery systems.

Tate Modern is the world’s most popular museum of modern and contemporary art, attracting around five million visitors each year. It is one of four Tate galleries around the country, and part of a wider network of partner institutions, which champions the visual arts in the UK.

Previous HCE contracts have included The All England Lawn Tennis Club, which is home to the Wimbledon Championships, the five-star Shangri-La Hotel at The Shard, pictured far right –, - the iconic London skyscraper which is the tallest building in Western Europe at 309m –- the Royal Albert Hall, Ascot Racecourse, Stonehenge Visitor Centre and the new Beaumont luxury boutique hotel in Mayfair, London.

Tate manages a growing national collection of more than 70,000 works of art, acquired and cared for on behalf of the public and shown in venues throughout the UK and across the world.

Jon Greep, pictured, is the managing director of HCE, which supplies commercial kitchens and catering equipment and was named in the latest Catering Insight awards as one of the top five project management companies in the UK’s catering service industry.

He said: “Tate Modern is the most-visited gallery of modern and contemporary art in the world, with the resultant demand for quality food and drink from tens of thousands of visitors every day.

“Given the incredible footfall, the need for hygienic, robust and high-specification equipment, with temperature control remote monitoring in real time, could not be greater.

“We were selected not just for our ability to deliver on time and to budget, but because we are recognised as having one of the UK’s most efficient and proactive project management teams.”

As well as being based at Chandler’s Ford, HCE has links to the Trant Engineering group, the multi-disciplinary contractor headquartered near Southampton and employing more than 900 staff across the UK and overseas.

Reflecting on the Tate Modern contract, Jon added: “We have embraced the opportunity to work in another of London’s iconic venues and to once again reinforce the relationships between consultants, suppliers and clients alike.”

Since it opened in 2000, Tate Modern has become one of the must-visit attractions in the capital, with thought-provoking works from famous artists such as Picasso, Matisse, Dalí, Warhol and Pollock.

The Tate Modern’s central production kitchen was to a SeftonHornWinch (SHW) design and specification. HCE previously worked on a number of SHW projects, including Stonehenge Visitor Centre and the new Beaumont hotel.