Four Seasons Hotel Park Lane

Date Complete 2011
Location UK England
Client Prima (UK) Ltd
Architect Eric Perry Architects (spa) / Reardon Smith (hotel)

Project Summary

The Four Seasons Park Lane is a luxury five-star hotel situated in London’s Mayfair. Set back from Park Lane, the hotel offers fantastic views of Hyde Park from a glass walled rooftop spa and fitness suite that was added as part of this major refurbishment project to also provide 145 guestrooms and 45 suites along with a major upgrade to the ballroom and restaurant facilities.

In 2012 the hotel was a winner of the RIBA London Award.

Services Provided

Sandy Brown was appointed to provide acoustic design advice for the refurbishment of the hotel, which included updates to the sound insulation and noise control of guest bedrooms as well as for the major addition of a spa penthouse on two additional floors at the roof of the building. Key acoustic considerations of the project included:

  • external sound insulation of the façade and roof
  • acoustic finishes, particularly for the pool and spa areas
  • environmental noise assessments
  • guest room sound insulation
  • reverberation in common areas
  • control of impact sound and noise transfer from the fitness suite to residences
  • mechanical services noise and vibration.

Special Acoustic Features

The focal point of the refurbishment was the two floor expansion at the roof to provide space for a 5-star spa treatment facility for guests and the general public. The experience of each spa treatment was key to the design of the space in terms of architecture, building services, lighting, and of course acoustics. A quiet and non-distracting environment that also provided absolute privacy was crucial, so a combination of sound absorbing surface finishes, strategic use of water flowing sound, and stout walls was employed to provide this.

The floors were elevated onto a pedestal above the existing roof allowing for increased sound insulation to the guest rooms below and provided a perfect space for the air-conditioning and pool equipment to be nestled away from the occupied spa areas giving ample space for appropriate attenuation measures to be included. Four Seasons’ design criteria could be met. Additionally, sound masking and acoustically sound absorbent finishes were combined to create an acoustically pleasant environment that reflected the relaxing atmosphere expected in a spa.

Also located on the tenth floor is a fitness suite and gym. Normally, fitness suites are included on ground or basement level floors so that the potential for structure borne noise from equipment like treadmills is reduced. At the Four Seasons though, the fitness suite had guestrooms below. To accommodate this, our acoustic design focussed on ensuring guests would not be disturbed by activity in the gym, which included isolating the floor substrate, mounting equipment on neoprene anti-vibration mounts and placing speakers for the music system in the plasterboard ceiling.

The refurbishment also improved the sound insulation provided between the existing ballrooms and the guest rooms directly above through the use of sound isolating ceilings installed before the final finishes in the ballrooms were constructed. New windows also greatly improved the noise reduction into guestrooms from the busy Park Lane adjacent to the building.

Four Seasons Hotel Park Lane. Credit: Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane