projects

ReardonSmith gained planning consent for this 408–bedroom hotel near Heathrow's Terminal Four in 2002. The brief was to re–design an existing scheme and make it more attractive to potential operators. Planning consent was gained after detailed discussions with the local authority which involved the creation of a nature reserve out of reclaimed contaminated land in front of the main entrance to the hotel. The scheme included the creation of new cycle lanes and a pedestrian footbridge to link the hotel with the adjacent business park.

In practice, this translated to bedrooms and bathrooms designed to meet internationally recognised standards for full service airport hotels together with a flexible solution for the public areas in which various permutations of restaurants, bars, leisure facilities and meeting rooms could be realised. ReardonSmith succeeded in increasing the number of bedrooms by 25%, while substantially reducing the overall volume of the building, and designed a streamlined exterior composed of a glass elevation with steel detailing above a dressed stone base.