CUMBERLAND HOTEL
Great Cumberland Place, London W1
TONY WARREN LIMITED
Client:
Commissioned by:
Architect:
Lift Contractor:
Lift Value:
Scope:
To quote the web page of Thistle Hotels’ prestige brand Guoman Hotels: “Our vision for The Cumberland was to create a hotel that would inspire, enthral and amaze, by combining challenging contemporary design with the very highest levels of comfort and service”.
Opened in 1933 by King George V and Queen Mary, and the first hotel to have telephones in each room and private en suite bathrooms, it was decided that the Hotel required a facelift to take it into the 21st century. There was an original completion date of 12th December 2001, to allow the revamped hotel on the anniversary of its original opening. This was always thought unlikely to be achieved by most people, however the target was aimed for, orders placed, materials manufactured…only for this date to be missed by almost three years!
As part of the £95M renovation, three new guest lifts were required to expand the existing into a six car group and two new lifts provided in the annexe to the rear.
As well as being a residential hotel, there was a conference centre in the two floors below Ground, and these required vertical transportation. With up to 3,750 delegates proposed, escalators was the obvious choice but would take up too much space, so two large scenic lifts was the solution. Fortunately, from the lifts’ viewpoint at least, the scale of the conference facilities was cut back, after the lifts were made, so these are the only four floor lifts with front and rear car entrances we know that serve two floors to the front only!
© 2010 TONY WARREN LIMITED
Meridian Development Company
Fulcrum Consulting
Reardon Smith Architects
ThyssenKrupp and Crown
£1,300,000
Seven new lifts and major modernisation of three existing lifts in prestige hotel
