New commercial opportunities delivered for Oxford Street’s Cumberland Hotel
Working for our client, Pike Investments, alongside contractor Blue Sky Building, Box Architects have delivered this significant Cumberland Hotel project in a prestigious and sensitive location.
The project focused on upgrading and optimising space, and the development of new commercial opportunities. It reconfigured the ground and basement levels of the existing hotel to create 25,000 sq ft of retail space over five units on Oxford Street and Old Quebec Street. The existing hotel office accommodation was relocated and reconfigured to accommodate the development, and a new modern suite of four large conferencing rooms adjacent to the existing basement level hotel restaurant were created. New fire escape staircases were provided throughout and a new sub-station was installed beneath the pavement.
Work on this listed building in central London offered numerous complex design and logistical challenges – located directly above Marble Arch Tube Station, within a fully operational 1,000 bed hotel with little external space on one of the busiest pedestrian streets in the world. Work took approximately two years and numerous hurdles were overcome, ranging from repeated exposure of asbestos material, to weight restrictions and challenges with Oxford Street’s Christmas decorations.
The result is an upgraded building infrastructure as well as the delivery of new high quality commercial spaces optimising the opportunities of this location.
- 5 new retail spaces on Oxford Street and new commercial conference facilities
- Improved resilience with new fire escapes and substation
- Complex logistics: weight restrictions, operational hotel over a key tube station