Reardon Smith move towards completion of Grosvenor House
The multi-million pound refurbishment of Grosvenor House is steadily moving to completion. Several of the phases are now complete and others are beginning on site. Superficially, the external stone and brickwork have been washed down and the windows refurbished. Inside, all the apartments in the South Block have been stripped out and the services within the wing segregated from the rest of the building in readiness for its fit-out as a totally refurbished residential property under separate ownership.
Meanwhile, the most dramatic of the external works is nearing completion Ð the addition of two glazed canopies over the main entrance forecourt in Park Street. Designed by ReardonSmith, the side canopy is 25.5 metres long while the main canopy extends across 15 metres. Inside, work is underway on a new reception area and, by June, the hotel will benefit from the refurbishment of 22 of its meeting rooms, designed by GA Design, which will add to the new meeting rooms that were finished in 2004 while work on site will have begun, creating a new brasserie designed by the German designer, Peter Silling. Simultaneously, the refurbishment of all 450 guestrooms, as well as the introduction of a further 48 rooms, will continue, designed by RPW Design to meet the luxury standard of the new owner and operator, JW Marriott. 2006 will also see the development of a luxury spa in Grosvenor House. ReardonSmith's programme also includes a major back-of-house programme to bring the services infrastructure up to modern standards.
Project leader Mick Youens of ReardonSmith says: "The complexities of the building have been considerable, added to which there have been changes in client, operator, designers and service engineers since we were appointed. There are still a further 18 months to go but then we will be handing over a hotel worthy of being a J W Marriott well into the future."
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