Carpet design is used to create a sense of location in corridors

The bedroom design is almost standard throughout (the corner rooms are a slightly different size) and there are two colour schemes in boldly primary blue and red. There is a superficial family resemblance to the schemes in the Express by HI, but here the corridors are more boldly handled. Similarities include the use of white gloss on woodwork and strong colour mixed with pale or neutral wall areas. Also common is the fluid carpet design which helps to give drama and a sense of location in the corridors.

The bedrooms are a reasonable size for this level but actually struggle to accommodate the furniture, whilst bathrooms are functional but not generous. The Express device of a shower room actually makes the smaller bathrooms at that level seem more capacious than these. In their recent presentation of the Holiday Inn of the Future (see the video presentation at the beginning of this article) the company seems to have taken on board the constraints that the small room footprint imposes on their layout, but whether it is the compliance with the requirements of the franchise or for other reasons, the bathrooms are uncomfortably cramped where a more imaginative approach could have made the whole space more workable.

The plan of the building here is less satisfactory than that of the Express, and seems to have suffered from penny pinching during the build stage of what was a design and build contract. Design and build contracts can be a nightmare for a designer as the relationship with the Client is superseded by one with the builder, who becomes responsible for paying the designer. The removal of the client-designer relationship can make battles to protect the design from cost cutting very difficult. It is my experience that cost overruns early in the contract, for example on foundation work or site preparation, pressure the finishes schedule. After all the money on the actual build has been spent the only place it can be pulled back from is on the finishes, fixtures and fittings. These are the part of the project that the guest interfaces with and reduction of which can have definite impact on the perception of quality.

The view from the Restaurant towards reception shows the proximity of diners to the bar - rollover to see the screens in the original concept visuals that would have allowed for some ambience to be created in the dining area.

Here the skirtings and joinery work generally is of a poor standard – an indicator of cost cutting which a builder might think is not going to be noticed but which is already giving housekeeping problems as filler from the skirtings gets trodden into the surface of the carpets. In contrast with the very effective use of lighting in the Croydon Express, the lighting here appears to have been cut back to minimal levels making it poor in the restaurant, where some tables are spot lit, contrasting with others that appear so dark that reading a menu may be difficult. Indeed there appears little relationship between the table layout and the lighting plan, and the ability to define the different functional areas of bar, restaurant and reception with the lighting is defeated by the inflexibility and the low number of fittings. It is impossible to judge whether this has been done due to cost problems or design, but I suspect that the lighting budget has been reduced at some stage with little thought to the operation.

The lack of differentiation between the bar area and the restaurant is leading, I am told, to complaints from guests who are dining alone and feel uncomfortable with drinkers only a few metres away perhaps cheering on a televised soccer match. I would imagine this is also a problem for families with small children, although the rear of the dining area is more private. The visuals show the areas separated by glazed screens, and it is their absence that is preventing the creation of a suitable atmosphere for dining. The lack of waiter stations must also create problems for staff at busy times – there is only one station for restaurant and bar area (there is a separate bar menu) and the only payment station appears to be the one behind the bar. Both these points are at the kitchen and bar end of the restaurant, which naturally leads to guest being seated here first – nearest the bar area, when the back of the restaurant provides more privacy. With aspirations to create a fine dining experience to draw back guests to the hotel the management are already talking about making changes – not unusual perhaps in a new building, as they often need tuning, but here it seems to be becoming operationally problematic.

Also problematic is the location of the rooms provided for those with disabilities. With twelve bedrooms available on the ground floor, it would have seemed logical to remove many access and escape problems by placing these rooms amongst them. However the rooms, which have well designed facilities that make them preferable in some ways to the standard rooms, are positioned on upper floors. Given that one escape stair is a spiral this seems a strange choice of location. Ground floor rooms provide easier independent access to public areas and car parks as well as simplified emergency access, and remove any problems involving lifts or escape stairs that otherwise have to be taken into account.