Claridge’s Hotel

ClientThe Maybourne Group
Duration 2015 to date

A FIVE STAR SOLUTION FOR CLARIDGE’S HOTEL

The 5-storey top-down basement at Claridge’s Hotel where we engaged with the client early to develop the concept and schematic design necessary to excavate a deep basement underneath the fully operational hotel.

Closing the hotel was not considered an option and many schemes proposed could not satisfy this objective.

McGee put forward a conceptual design to make the client’s expansion and modernisation plans possible, and was appointed the design and build contractor in November 2015 to embark on this ambitious project. We subsequently engaged Arup to undertake the detailed design on our behalf.

McGee has been working diligently beneath the hotel’s Art Deco wing to turn a vision into reality for Claridge’s owners, The Maybourne Group.

We tunnelled beneath the existing foundations, and installed a temporary and permanent works solution to support the structure – transferring the load from the building through a pair of 800T hydraulic flat jacks. This allowed over 30,000m³ of material to be excavated from beneath the hotel to create the 5-storey basement. All materials going in and out of the site had to pass through a single window opening.

All this undertaken whilst working 24 hours a day in the closest possible proximity to very sensitive stakeholders. There have been no planned or unplanned closures and the services within the hotel above have remained uninterrupted.

Early engagement on the project has ensured the project has been completed on budget and ahead of programme.

The additional 65,000ft² of space created beneath the original 80-year old concrete raft of the Grade-II listed building will include a spa, swimming pool, wine cellar, additional plant and back of house facilities.

The project has attracted global interest with overseas visitors coming to see the five-star engineering solution.