Located in Mayfair, London, The Beaumont was developed by Grosvenor Estate in collaboration with Chris Corbin and Jeremy King, the highly regarded restaurateurs behind a number of leading restaurants in the capital. For their first hotel, Corbin & King Hotels and Reardon Smith Architects spent four years searching for the right London site and, in 2008, were offered the Mayfair site by Grosvenor Estate. Dating back to 1926, the Grade II listed Art Deco style building was most recently occupied by Avis Rent–A–Car and was being used as car park.
Ramboll provided multi-disciplinary services for this complex and intricate development. Structural engineering services included the retention of a Grade II listed façade, a new five story steel superstructure and double story concrete basement. Extensive opening up works were arranged by Ramboll’s structural engineers to determine the existing structures condition and longevity but the structure was found to be substantially damaged with extensive corrosion. Working in partnership with planning consultants, Ramboll negotiated the removal of the entire internal structure with the retained listed façade being lifted and suspended while basement excavations were underway.
A sensitive extension to the existing north wing of the building, as well as two additional floors on the roof and two new basement levels, achieved space for a total of 73 guestrooms and suites, the public Grill Room and American Bar, a separate residents’ bar & lounge, a small function room, a spa and gymnasium. The two floor roof extension is a modern intervention that does not attempt to copy the existing façade but is sympathetic to it.
A sculpture by the artist Antony Gormley entitled ROOM sits above the building's south wing as a modular piece forming the bedroom of one of the suites, acting as both a monumental sculpture and an architectural extension to the hotel. The crouching steel man sculpture is constructed in mill finish stainless steel that will develop a patina whilst the interior consists of large dark oak-clad wood-panelled cubes that hang overhead, receding all the way up into the statue's square skull.
Whilst Corbin and King are experienced food and beverage operators within the London area, with The Beaumont being their first hotel endeavour, assistance with regards to the hotel aspects of the brief was requested. Utilising our extensive previous knowledge, both of hotels and working within the constraints of Westminster planning policies, Ramboll worked alongside the operator to assist them in providing a suitable client brief for this prestigious new addition to the London hotel market.
Drawing from previous hotel design experience, Ramboll also provided fully integrated building services design including full air conditioning throughout using energy efficient heat pump systems with heat recovery and a carbon saving CHP system to provide heating and hot water. All public rooms are provided with state of the art lighting controls and a fully integrated IT network provides communication, internet and security services. A BREEAM award of Very Good was obtained through the application of sustainable design practice throughout the design and construction process.
The hotel opened to huge acclaim winning Luxury Travel Intelligence's 2014 Best Hotel in the World award and making it to the shortlist of Wallpaper's Design Awards, GQ's Hotel of the Year Award 2015 and on to Conde Nast Travel Hot List 2015. Writing in the Daily Mail, India Sturgis commented: "The Beaumont was deemed 'perfect' by Luxury Travel Intelligence's experts and perfect it is." The Independent's, Tracey McLeod added: "There's magic here, more of that grand old hotel atmosphere [and] an old-school grace that is very seductive".
