Member Collaboration: Regency Grove and Grangewood - The Dilly
Bringing a “luxury resi touch” to commercial and hospitality projects
The Dilly has a rich history as one of London’s finest hotels. Located on The Piccadilly in the heart of London, the hotel boasts an excellent reputation built on years of British tradition.
LPF Members, Regency Grove (Project Managers) and Grangewood (Contractors) came together for refurbishment works at this iconic heritage London Hotel. Our Founder and CEO, Priya Rawal sat down with Director of Regency Grove, Ricky West and Pre-Construction Director of Grangewood, Martin Hodgon.
The Dilly is steeped in history and is definitely iconic. What did you find interesting about this project?
Ricky West- Regency Grove
Given the history of the building, it’s Grade II* listed standing and status as a landmark hotel and events space in the heart of the West End, it was exciting to part of it’s ongoing evolution, particularly during an important re-brand and change of ownership.
Martin Hodgon - Grangewood
We are used to working in listed properties in the heart of London, however the large scale of the building combined with the complexities of working within a live hotel made for an interesting project for us and one we feel very proud to have been a part of.
I can imagine a project like this is never smooth sailing. What were the key challenges and how did you overcome them?
Ricky West- Regency Grove
The main challenge with the project was achieving the strict deadlines required by the client, allowing handover of the works prior to the completion of the sale of the hotel. This was coupled with the complexities of maintaining the operation of the hotel throughout and keeping as many rooms as possible open for use. This required early engagement and careful planning between all parties involved, particularly Grangewood as main contractor, their key supply chain members, and the hotel operators.
Martin Hodgon - Grangewood
The key challenges were ensuring we achieved the clients key programme dates which were closely linked to the sale of the hotel. The quantity of items such as joinery together with a challenging programme were made even more challenging with an evolving scope of works, as the nature of the historic defects were uncovered. This meant that early procurement, survey and sample sign off and being flexible were essential. We were engaged at an early stage to work alongside Regency Grove, The Dilly’s operational team, design team and key members of our supply chain to approach the Pre-Construction activities in a collaborative manner. This collaborative approach together with close liaison with the hotel team throughout the project meant we could re-sequence works to suit the hotels booking/business flow while carrying out the required works.
Was there anything unusual about this project?
Ricky West- Regency Grove
A large part of the project involved the survey, identification and remediation of historical defects affecting areas throughout the building. This is common on historic conservation projects however the added complexity of maintaining operations in the hotel throughout meant that the process of identification and remediation of existing defects was highly condensed and required a very collaborative approach with Grangewood to achieve the client’s requirements whilst maintaining control of the project scope and budget.
Martin Hodgon - Grangewood
We have worked within live hotels on numerous projects however The Dilly presented the unusual challenge of uncovering historic defects within a live setting and rectifying them in compliance with the listed building consent and construction programme. To maintain programme throughout we vastly increased labour and working hours to flex within an ever-changing programme.
Both Regency Grove and Grangewood are leader of the luxury residential world. What did you both bring from that world to this project?
Ricky West- Regency Grove
The luxury property market comes with an array of particular challenges. Sensitive locations, intricate design, specific individual requirements as well as complex processes to manage, to name a few. The one similarity that stands out is the exacting requirements of the client, which is a commonality between this project and our luxury residential projects. This required a similar approach to the high-end residential sector projects, in terms of selection of the supply chain, continuous quality management from the outset on-site, and close liaison with the client team and contractor throughout the process.
Martin Hodgon - Grangewood
One of the main crossovers from our luxury residential projects were utilising a tried and tested supply chain, such as Neil Burke Joinery, who understand the importance of early procurement, survey and design sign off while having the resources and proven track record to achieve the level of quality expected from the client. It was a pleasure to demonstrate our versatility within commercial/hospitality setting.
About Us
Regency Grove
Regency Grove are best known for their expertise in delivering bespoke projects in the luxury property sector across central London and the home counties. We have become specialists in delivering projects in the most sensitive locations, with complex challenges and the highest quality of finish required. We started our practice to offer our clients the highest standard of advice and support for projects that require this level of service.
Grangewood
Grangewood have a reputation built on collaboration, transparency and trust, gained over 30 years of experience working within Central London and spanning the luxury residential, heritage and London Estate sectors. We pride ourselves on our very high quality level of work and offer a level of professional and personal service that has seen the majority of our work being of a repeat nature.
Get in Touch
Regency Grove
https://www.regencygrove.com
Grangewood
https://grangewood.co.uk