The Grand Hotel, Birmingham

Date Complete 2020
Location UK England
Client The Principal Hotel Company
Architect Synergy Architects

Project summary

The Grand Hotel is the restoration of a Grade II* listed building to create a modern 185 room luxury hotel in Birmingham’s prestigious Colmore Row. The hotel was originally constructed in 1879 and previously closed its doors in 2002 due to long-term disrepair, only narrowly saved from demolition due to its listed designation.
The £45 million transformation into a luxury hotel over eight floors features a restaurant, a bar, grand ballroom, terrace, gym and meeting rooms. The construction respected the historic, listed elements of the building, with the original ceilings, cornicing and plasterwork, mosaic tiled floors and grand staircase all preserved.

Detailed design

Sandy Brown Associates was commissioned to provide advice on the acoustic design and fit-out of approximately 15,254 m2 of internal floor space given our expertise in designing both high-end hotel developments and historic buildings to achieve good standards of acoustic performance. The acoustic performance standards for the project were developed to balance the aspirations for quality on the project and the limitations imposed by the building fabric.

The building comprises multiple construction types, with sections of the building having been rebuilt and remodelled over the course of its 140 year lifespan, in addition to new-build elements introduced as part of the redevelopment works. The front of house areas including the Grand Ballroom, restaurant and events spaces have the greatest extent of historic features, but also required enhanced levels of acoustic separation to the bedrooms above.

We undertook extensive benchmark testing and site inspections to quantify and understand the performance of the retained building elements. This allowed specific solutions and detailing to be developed for the different areas of the hotel.

The hotel occupies a prestigious, city centre location, and consideration has been made with regard to traffic routes and nearby bus stops. The original timber sash and casement windows were retained so secondary glazing was installed to control external noise ingress.