Designed by Charles Barry, son of the architect of the Houses of Parliament, the Great Eastern Hotel at Liverpool Street Station was built at the height of the Victorians’ enthusiasm for railways.

Following decades of decline, a £65-million refurbishment by Conran & Partners (fit-out) and the Manser Practice (base-build) has transformed the Great Eastern as a contemporary British design statement, recapturing the drama and glamour of the building in its hey-day. Key architectural features of the listed building have been restored, and new architectural interventions have almost doubled the volume of the hotel. Space for 100 new bedrooms at fifth and sixth floor in a new copper-clad mansard brings the total number of rooms to 267.

A key part of Conran & Partners’ brief was to clarify the internal layout of the hotel, gradually confused by successive refurbishments. Most awkwardly, a ground and first floor carriageway, now in different ownership, splits the lower floors of the hotel in two. By moving the reception lobby into the eastern part of the site, consistent lift-access has been afforded to all bedroom floors via a new nine-storey core. A spectacular circular galleried void punches upward from the new lobby, connecting with a top-lit six-storey atrium at first floor level. This serves as the main orientating space for the hotel, and gives access to a new business centre and most of the hotel’s private-dining and event spaces.

The original hotel entrance now acts as a foyer for the two main restaurants – Aurora , occupying the original hotel’s ornate ballroom, and the more contemporary Terminus Bar and Grill, facing directly onto Liverpool Street .  Other restaurants in the complex include ‘Fishmarket’, a seafood restaurant and Oyster Bar, and ‘Miyabi’, a Japanese restaurant.

The project was an exemplar of the multi-disciplinary service that Conran & Partners are able to offer. C&P’s design and supervision role included internal re-planning, interior design, FF&E specification, creation of the hotel’s new visual identity and its application from pre-project marketing support to laundry tickets.