The practice first became involved with hotel design in the early 1960’s providing structural engineering services to the De Vere Group during construction of the Daresbury Park Hotel. Since then we have had a continuing role in the development of Village Urban Resort Hotels, and have acquired a significant degree of expertise in the field.

We have a core team of staff working predominantly on hotel projects. They form the basis of our internal Hotels Forum which meets regularly to discuss the technical aspects of our hotels and to continually improve our expertise.

Our array of current and past Clients includes Quinn Hotels, Easy Hotels, Metier Properties, Crowne Plaza, Radisson Hotels, De Vere, Trinity Hotels, Holiday Inn and Malmaison Hotels.

As a result we have market leading knowledge of current practice, design methods and costs / time effective construction techniques. Having gained that depth of experience, we have been involved in the using many alternative types of structural solutions for hotel construction.

Each type of hotel design and each site presents it’s own specific challenges, which influence the selection of the most appropriate design solution. Frequently several options need to be explored before the most appropriate is selected. Common factors include the need for bedrooms with party walls, restaurants & conference facilities, and leisure facilities often with swimming pools.

Our experience of using different forms of construction to suit the specific requirements of hotel design is significant. We use that experience to ensure that cost-effective structural solutions are adopted and that effective co-ordination between the design team.

The main consideration when preparing a structural design of bedrooms is the presence of the bedroom party walls. We find that the most sensible structural solution is to use the loadbearing party walls. Once hotels are completed most guests should gain little impression of the fabric of the building, unless the design has been specifically makes the structural solution an exposed feature.

Our most successful projects have been where we have established a good relationship with the contractor at the earliest possible stage and maintained these throughout the project. In particular, we believe in delivering our structural solution, drawings, design and construction details to the contractor as soon as possible. Also, on larger projects, the presence of an MEP co-ordinator working for the contractor helps to ensure that appropriate information from the MEP sub-contractor is adopted into the structural design at an early stage, thus avoiding structural alterations at a later date.