The Grand Hotel, Birmingham

Providing one of Birmingham’s most iconic buildings with a new lease of life, we completed the “stunning transformation” of The Grand Hotel. The iconic Grade II listed building, which was originally built in 1879, overlooks the city’s prestigious Colmore Row, and, in the past, it welcomed guests including King George VI, Winston Churchill and Charlie Chaplin. This illustrious heritage has been sensitively retained, including the French Renaissance exterior, while its elaborate internal decoration provides an authentic homage to Birmingham’s rich history, but with a modern twist. To get it just right, considerable time and resources were invested in the preconstruction phase as part of a two-stage procurement process. The Grand Hotel opened its doors to guests in May 2021 – a “Sleeping Beauty” had finally awoken.

The Grand Hotel feels like the old The Grand Hotel, but yet it is an entirely new design. We took what was left of old mouldings and panels and, meticulously, created a totally new series of interiors that do not detract from its Listed Heritage status, but celebrate and embrace it. Given the complexity of the scheme, we developed the design, aligned it with the client budget, and progressed it into construction as part of a Two Stage D&B contract. The centrepiece of the renovation is the resplendent grand staircase and ornate Art Deco Grosvenor Ballroom. Natural stones and quartz were fitted to all of the bathrooms, reception desks, bars, cloaks, breakfast counters, waiter stations and washrooms. Significantly, we achieved a £3.5m saving from the initial PCSA. It is worth noting that the original concept was over budget and above the affordability cap. Using our technical expertise, we identified Value Engineering options, pin-pointing savings through the complete redesign of theM&E ventilation strategy, for example.