The Landmark London Hotel
Styles Façade Solutions® (formerly Thomann-Hanry®) was instructed to carry out commercial window painting at The Landmark, refurbishing over a thousand Gothic Revival windows, frames and sills, plus 50 doors, louvres, a mile of ornate metalwork, and canopy steelwork. Scaffolding was avoided using Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs) throughout.
A detailed preparatory survey checked for hazardous materials like lead or arsenic in historical paint layers, ensuring compliance with Control of Lead At Work (CLAW) regulations before works began.
The 20-week project proceeded entirely from MEWPs, allowing the hotel to maintain normal operations and 5-Star service throughout. The transformation now offers a glimpse of how this Marylebone landmark appeared over a century ago.
Solutions provided
A WINDOW INTO THE WORKINGS OF REDECORATION
The vision of business magnate Sir Edward Watkin, the hotel dates to an era of spectacular hotel development in the late 19th century, powered by the explosive growth of Britain’s railways. Opening in July 1899, the Great Central Hotel was designed by renowned architect Col. Robert Edis, with a brief to surpass the grandeur and opulence of the Savoy and Hotel Cecil, which had opened in 1895 and 1896 respectively.
The building featured a clock tower, lending it an aura of civic authority, as well as more outré innovations, such as a rooftop cycle track for guests looking to work off some of the excesses of high living. The hotel’s steeply pitched roofs, ornamental tracery and impressive façades are outstanding examples of Gothic Revival architecture, favoured by Edis in contrast to the neoclassical styles more prevalent at the time.
Apart from spells as a convalescent home for officers during both world wars, the Great Central established itself as one of London’s preeminent hotels throughout the first half of the twentieth century, before being bought by the London and North Eastern Railway Company and repurposed as office space in 1945.
In 1988 it was acquired by Kentarō Abe, who had found fame and fortune as Japanese pop star Masao Sen. Construction work started on a reborn hotel in 1989, opening as The Regent four years later under the ownership of the Four Seasons Group. Subsequently bought by the Lancaster London Hotel Company, it was relaunched as the Landmark London Hotel in 1995.
Styles Façade Solutions® documents the "before" condition of windows at The Landmark London ahead of redecorating over 1,000 windows without scaffolding.
SCAFFOLD-FREE REFURBISHMENT FOR OVER 1,000 WINDOWS
In classic Gothic Revival style, the design of the building features serried ranks of windows, and there are over a thousand of them at The Landmark. Styles Façade Solutions® was instructed to carry out commercial window painting and refurbish all windows, window frames and sills, as well as over 50 doors and louvres. The project also encompassed around a mile of ornate metalwork, including the two main canopies, in addition to varnishing the main entrance woodwork and painting perimeter railings, balconies, downpipes and the front entrance canopy steelwork frame.
With a desire not to shroud the hotel in unsightly, costly, and time-consuming scaffolding for months on end, Styles Façade Solutions® used the superior method of Mobile Elevating Work Platforms (MEWPs) for every aspect of this restoration project.
To better understand the requirements of this project we conducted a detailed preparatory survey. Given the age of the property, it was critical to verify that no hazardous materials were present, such as lead or arsenic in the historical paint layers. For example, if lead is identified in the existing paintwork, all removal and remediation works must strictly conform to Control of Lead At Work (CLAW) regulations for safe and compliant disposal.
PRECISION REDECORATION WITH NO GUEST DISRUPTION
With the survey submitted and process approved, the skilled painting team from Styles Façade Solutions embarked on the 20-week commercial window painting project. As the team operated entirely from MEWPs, equipment could be quickly repositioned, allowing the hotel to maintain normal business operations, ensuring clients continued to receive 5-Star service.
This vast undertaking of painting and redecoration has transformed the outward appearance of The Landmark, providing a window into how this grand dame of Marylebone looked over a century ago.
“Painting the exterior wood and metalwork on a 6-storey five-star Grade II Listed building in the busy Marylebone area has not been an easy task. The combined challenges of high occupancy and parking restrictions, compounded by adverse weather conditions, were managed extremely well between the hotel management team and Styles Façade Solutions®. The quality of workmanship, attention to detail and cooperation remained exemplary. I would highly recommend Styles Façade Solutions® to any company considering an alternative to the traditional scaffolding approach.”
Keith Price, Chief Engineer, The Landmark London Hotel
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