Work continues on the iconic Grosvenor House Hotel, now owned by Marriott International, and whilst much is yet to be achieved, this £100m plus project is beginning to look every bit as grand as its owners intended and a suitable flagship for the new top-end JW Marriott brand. We asked architectural project manager, Mick Youens, of ReardonSmith Architects for an update...

“Over recent years we have enjoyed the privilege of working on a number of London’s most significant hotel refurbishment projects, including The Savoy, The Cumberland Hotel, InterContinental London Park Lane, Claridge's and The Connaught, as well as Grosvenor House. I think, however, that my colleagues at ReardonSmith would agree that of all of these, the Grosvenor House project stands out for one very significant reason: the sheer scale of the project - probably the largest ever hotel re-building project in London and certainly the largest ever at Grosvenor House since it opened in 1926 - with all works undertaken while the Hotel remained operational.

The project began for us in autumn 2001. Grosvenor House was then operated by Le Meridien Hotels and Resorts, headed up in the UK by one of the industry's most colourful characters, Jurgen Bartels. His vision for the Hotel was clear and our early schemes - some 30 in total - were developed in response to his inclination for bold, contemporary design. These included the design of a 1,900 cubic metre glazed enclosure with a vaulted glass roof which was intended to articulate and dramatise the main entrance forecourt in Park Street. The scheme marked quite a radical development for the Lutyens-designed building but we, nevertheless, were successful in gaining unconditional planning consent.

Early strip-out work to some parts of the property was already underway when Le Meridien ceased to be the operator. Consequently, for the following two years, the focus of our work became the development of schemes to help our client, The Royal Bank of Scotland who owned Grosvenor House, agree a management contract with another operator. Despite the inevitable uncertainties that surrounded this period, refurbishment continued at a level requiring a ReardonSmith team permanently on site. When Marriott International emerged as the new operator, ReardonSmith's position as project leader and co-ordinator was confirmed and our on-site team swelled to typically some 10 architects and technicians at any one time. Then, last year, I was also appointed project manager by our client.

Throughout this time, one factor remained constant: the Hotel was not to close. Therefore, the phasing, planning and management of all works on site, at all times, were each key factors in order to ensure minimum disruption for both guests and hotel operations. In addition, as hotel architects, we always follow two guiding principles: to design, or re-design, a hotel in order to enhance its asset value and to design, or re-plan, the interior spaces to increase revenue generating potential. Frequently, for older and larger city centre properties, where space as well as the cost of real estate is at a premium, this involves the rationalisation of the building and the relocation of non-revenue generating spaces to unlock space for revenue generating alternatives.

At Grosvenor House, one of the early decisions was to move staff offices from the first floor to newly designed offices in one of the basement levels, making way for additional bedrooms, as well as to refurbish the Ballroom and Court Suite. Eight new meeting rooms were also constructed. This was followed by work to the exterior of the Hotel, cleaning the stone and brickwork and refurbishing the windows. In addition, the property's South Block, which had previously comprised apartments, was stripped and the services segregated from the rest of the building enabling The Royal Bank of Scotland to place it on the market for redevelopment.

By the middle of last year, the successor to the glass vault was complete - two cantilevered and lit glass canopies rising over a forecourt re-surfaced in Chinese granite. Designed by ReardonSmith, the side canopy is 25.5 metres long while the main canopy extends across 15 metres. Grosvenor House now had the impact and sense of arrival consonant with a grand hotel.

Inside, the story continued with a newly designed reception area and, shortly after this, four additional as well as 16 refurbished meeting rooms. Meanwhile, the steady refurbishment of all 450 guestrooms, as well as the introduction of a further 48 rooms was on going and half of these are now about to be handed over. The interior hoardings hiding the transformed public areas are shortly to be dismantled and, in the summer, the new brasserie style restaurant will be revealed. The final phases next year will see the addition of further luxury leisure facilities. For ReardonSmith though, these extensive front-of-house spaces are just one part of the picture. Less glamorous but equally as important has been the extensive back-of-house programme to bring the services infrastructure up to the highest level of efficiency and health & safety. This includes the installation of new sprinkler and fire alarm systems throughout and the up-grading of 20 lifts. In addition, DDA compliant facilities have been introduced across the Hotel, from fully accessible bedrooms and bathrooms to lift ramps.

The complexities of site management have been considerable. These have included regular "no noise" days impacting progress of work as well as the need to allow for the facility to change agreed schedules of work, not to mention the impact that the continuous changes in the design brief will have on programme. In total, we have administrated five separate contracts.

Prior to joining ReardonSmith to head up the Grosvenor House team, I had mainly worked on large-scale, new-build hotel projects. These have their challenges but over half a decade at Grosvenor House has confirmed for me that major refurbishments of live hotels are much more demanding of the professional team. However, for a hotel architect, they also bring a singular reward: that of playing an absolutely key role in ensuring a world-renowned hotel legend retains its place as a hotel of choice for both business and leisure.”

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From GS Magazine

Publication Date: March 2007

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