Respecting the hotel’s heritage was key, says Maria Vafiadis

The Sheraton Grand London Park Lane (formerly the Park Lane) in Mayfair, London, relaunches this month (October) following a multi million pound renovation and redesign by interior designers MKV Design and architects Woods Bagot.

The two year project has seen the hotel's 303 guestrooms completely redesigned, and the addition of a new bar and restaurant at street level, a redesigned reception lobby and upgraded public areas including the famed Palm Court Lounge. The Grade II listed Ballroom and Silver Gallery also underwent a sensitive restoration as part of the project.

MKV drew on the hotel's Art Deco heritage with the interiors, completely stripping back the guest rooms and adding contemporary features in keeping with the building's history. The schemes are discreetly glamorous with Art Deco touches, including polished silver finishes on furniture, bevelled mirror panels above the full length of the bedhead and ‘Deco inspired wall lights. Guestroom bathrooms are finished in classic black and white tiling, and fittings also subtly refer to the building’s provenance.

One of the challenges of the project for MKV was replanning the public spaces to enable guests to navigate and understand the layout of the building more easily. “Space planning was central to the redesign particularly in the ground floor public areas where we had to work around existing structures including several imposing columns and changes in floor level,” says Maria Vafiadis, founder and MD of MKV.

“We were very conscious of the heritage we were dealing with in this large and prominent listed building on London’s Piccadilly, which has the distinction of being both the first hotel in London constructed with a steel frame back in 1927 and also the only hotel remaining in the capital with extensive Art Deco interiors.”

The hotel’s listed status added an additional layer of complexity to the project, says Vafiadis. “Every material used on and in the building had to be submitted for Listed Building Consent and samples provided for approval, requiring a close relationship with the architectural team.”

For Vafiadis, renovating the Palm Court Lounge was a particular highlight of the project. “The Palm Court is the area that most clearly expresses the hotel’s Art Deco glamour and best represents the next chapter in its history,” she says. “It is the jewel that sits at the heart of the revitalised ground floor public areas, with the new bar, restaurant and executive lounge areas all spanning off it.”

MKV has also recently completed a major refurbishment of the Hotel Royal Savoy, Lausanne in Switzerland.