Café Royal Hotel

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

An earlier scheme for the redevelopment of the Café Royal involved almost complete demolition. But the new developer and his team were more sensitive to the original building. The fine rooms were held in place and new structure was threaded round and over them. New foundations had to be introduced and loads jacked in to balance the new with the old. This was very much more than a façade retention job and was carried out with great skill and care.

Judge's comment:

The Café Royal deserved this careful redevelopment, which kept in place the listed elevations and the grand historic rooms while rebuilding everything around and above.  The considerable structural complexity inherent in this approach was handled with exemplary care.