GREAT EASTERN HOTEL
Liverpool Street, London EC2
TONY WARREN LIMITED
Great Eastern Hotel
Upton McGougan
Manser Associates/Conran Design Partnership
Fujitec
£900,000
Eight new lifts and four new platform lifts in prestige hotel
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The Great Eastern Hotel, now Hyatt’s first ‘Andaz’, was built on the site of the Bethlehem, or ‘Bedlam’, Hospital for the insane, and was at one time the only hotel in the City of London. It has history in its own right: the original architects were the son and grandson of the architect responsible for the Houses of Parliament and there are two Masonic Temples within it.
Unusually, the lift contractor and ourselves had two different designers responsible for the appearance of the lifts and their surroundings. Sir Terance Conran was part of the client group and his design studio, CDP, were responsible for the Ground floor, this being where the restaurants were located and this lift lobby was part of this ‘ambiance’. Manser Associates were charged with more mundane things such as Building Regulations’ approval and hence were responsible for the lifts on the upper floors. Such a partnership produced some interesting results — the upper floor landings are strikingly different from those at the Ground, using ‘chain mail’ for the front walls of the lift well to allow a hint, but no more, of the lifts moving past a floor, while the lifts are almost hidden at the Ground floor.
There were also issues to resolve regarding the use of the lifts. Both the Hotel itself and the various food and beverage franchises were happy with the number of goods lifts provided, however each assumed they had exclusive rights to these!
© 2010 TONY WARREN LIMITED
