Great Eastern Hotel Architects: Manser Associates Consultant: Upton Macgougan Design: Conran & Partners The Great Eastern Hotel, next to Liverpool Street Station, occupies the site of the original Bethlehem hospital (popularly known as Bedlam). It is a Grade-II listed hotel that was originally built in two phases and is currently the only substantial hotel in The Square Mile. Its west block, designed by Charles Barry, opened in 1884; the east, to designs by Colonel W. Edis, in 1901. However, the new refurbishment - by Manser Associates and Conran & Partners - has 267 bedrooms with four restaurants, three bars and a gym and revives the Victorian splendour of the original but injects a strong spirit of modernity: the new sits alongside the old, the classic is given a twist. To maintain the guest's level of comfort throughout the hotel, a BMS system was installed during the refurbishment with each of the bedrooms benefiting from a 2 stage climate control system combining perimeter heating with heating and cooling fan coil units. Although guest comfort is a priority the energy and overall running costs of the building are paramount to achieve a good operating result. To achieve optimal performance of the building and room usage the BMS system controls and monitors all aspects of the building services and targets and monitors energy consumption. Monitoring the energy allows the hotel to quickly see areas that are not conforming to the normal energy pattern and take corrective measures before becoming a problem. The maintenance of the mechanical plant is base on hours run or failure rather than the conventional method of elapsed time period. The BMS maintenance information is automatically passed to the maintenance departments own software which prints the job sheets and monitors progress on all jobs. This means that the plant is only serviced when required and therefore saves time, money and effort. A planned link to the hotel booking system will complete the systems and allow the rooms to be fully conditioned only when occupied with guests. The over-riding concept for the project might be summarised as 'modern classic'. The challenge, both aesthetically and operationally, is to establish a shared vocabulary throughout the hotel - modern, optimistic, quirky, professional, comfortable - but at the same time to revel in its juxtapositions and complexity. Respectful of the past but confident of the future, the Great Eastern Hotel is a new modern, British classic. www.great-eastern-hotel.co.uk