Completed 1992

Working as project designer at JT Design Build in Bristol with a great team of Architect and Project Managers, this was a great project to be involved in, and ran on from our experience building the Holiday Inn at Lion Yard in the centre of Cambridge.

As a Design Build company, we were the main contractor and had to interpret an Interior Design package prepared by Michael Sassoon from Alderley Edge in Cheshire, who had been working in the Hotel and Leisure industry for a long time.

The Hotel was planned to be a venue not only for visitors but locals as well, with a number of bars and sports facilities. Hotel Accommodation, in the shape of 5 different types of rooms, all had to be fitted out with the usual, beds, wardrobes, trouser presses (in those days), bathroom facilities, soft furnishings etc. etc. These were under our remit, only the public areas had been designed by Michael Sassoon.

I was responsible for making sure all of the working drawings for the chaps on site worked, and that all the details had been ironed out pre-installation. This not only included joinery items, but tiling layouts, bathroom layouts, lighting layouts for all public areas and all the rooms. I had to ensure that the project team in the office and on site had enough information to keep them busy, as it was a tight schedule.

I also got to design the pool area, with no budget. I proposed a Victorian Bath house theme which corresponded with the heavy Victorian design scheme for the rest of the hotel. Including a stripy beach hut (very Blackpool) which housed a vertical tanning booth (not easy to find in the 90s, all very new). It was accepted and installed, and worked very well. Not a particularly nice space for the pool, but it was for all ages and tastes.

The hotel is still there under a new name, and I imagine it has had a number of facelifts in the time since it was completed. Hotels interiors have a shelf life, not only because they are well used, but they have to keep up with trends, not only in technology but also in style, so that they attract as many visitors as they can.