Claridge’s Hotel
Delivering the impossible: A five-star basement for Claridge’s Hotel.
Maybourne Hotel Group proposed to expand facilities at Claridge’s five-star hotel in the heart of London’s exclusive Mayfair district. The owners wanted to enhance the services offered to their guests but needed more space. Its central London location meant that extending at street level was not feasible, so an alternative solution was found: excavating under the hotel’s Art Deco wing.
We developed a methodology to excavate and construct a five-storey basement while the hotel remained fully operational, something others believed to be impossible.
This was a uniquely complex and challenging project. It required the design and construction of a 22m-deep basement and 30m-deep foundations beneath a 90-year-old concrete raft slab founded on material that was difficult to excavate safely. Adding to the complexity, to avoid disruption to hotel guests, all construction materials, machinery and excavated spoil needed to pass through a single 2m x 2m window.
