Helping Hotel Designs to break down the process of piecing together all the elements when designing the modern hotel bathroom, consultants Utopia Projects guides us through how it specified products for Royal Lancaster Hotel. Richard Goodier explains…
Four years before the refurbishment started, we met the interior design firm Studio Proof, which is owned by David Morris who was hoping to land a big hotel job.
Utopia Projects were in the midst of planning the bi-annual ISH trip so Morris was invited along. Six months later, we were in Frankfurt meeting all the big manufacturers, including Hansgrohe, Villeroy & Boch, Geberit and many more.
Once Proof Studio had won the Royal Lancaster Hotel project we started meeting with them to discuss the sanitary ware, and the studio constantly reverted back to manufacturers they had seen at the ISH exhibition.
Image credit: Royal Lancaster Hotel
The designers wanted to choose two options that they would then present to the client – this was just a starting point to gain the client’s interest and to establish the direction they would take.
Once all the samples were sourced, we attended the hotel to present the options, and the designers then have all the ideas required to start planning each room layout and each room standard.
Image credit: Royal Lancaster Hotel
In total, there were 14 different room styles.
Over the next 12 – 18 months, we worked with Proof Studio to ensure the sanitary ware for each room was correct and that the costs were correct and viable for 18 months ahead.
Once the specs took shape, we made sample boards from each manufacturer, and training was given to the hotel maintenance staff before the refurb started.
Two sample rooms were commissioned which we supplied. A room-by-room schedule was produced for all 416 bathrooms.
Finally we met with County Contracts, which had won the job and were looking for suppliers (as yet we had only done the spec work, and we now had to prove to County Contracts that we could supply the goods in the time scales required and at the right cost).
After a few meetings, we won the order and put it all into place.
Site training was given where required and manufacturers were introduced. One person from our office was tasked with running the job and I visited site most weeks to ensure it all ran correctly.
Finally, and importantly, hotel staff were given training after the job was complete for cleaning and maintenance.
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Main image credit: Royal Lancaster Hotel
