In a £12m scheme, Falconer Chester Hall has converted the iconic Grade II* listed Royal Insurance Building in Liverpool, into a stylish 116 bedroom hotel for the Starwood Hotels Aloft brand.
A stunning example of the Edwardian Baroque but disused since the late 1980s and on English Heritage’s “Buildings at Risk” register, the proposal reinvigorated the historically and architecturally significant building, creating an elegant hotel with a grand open plan entrance lobby, bar and restaurant.
The design remodelled the space to provide modern upper mid-range hotel accommodation, adapting the building using existing windows to maximise natural light and creating bespoke bedroom layouts.
The steel frame structure of the building, probably the first in Britain, suspends the floors above from a steel arch worthy of some of the great railway stations, leaving the ground floor column free, and providing a breath-taking, intricately ornamented space.