Crowne Plaza | Suffolk St Queensway | 12 fl. | Reno

[Brummyboy92]

Im immpressed, I did not think it would come out looking this good but what a pleasent suprise.

[feltip]

Post article on refurbishment

£16 million refurbishment for Crowne Plaza Hotel
Apr 15 2008

Hotel operator Centre Island, which took over the Crowne Plaza Birmingham in 2005, is investing £16 million in a complete refurbishment of the city centre hotel.

The project, which is due for completion in September, will see the Suffolk Street Queensway hotel benefit from the redesign of all 312 bedrooms, plus the addition of a new front-facing 'destination' restaurant and a floor that is dedicated to meeting and conference rooms.

There will be eight meeting and conference rooms in total. Among them will be the new Vista Suite that will offer panoramic views over the city and accommodate up to 180 delegates for banqueting or 300 in theatre-style seating.

All bedrooms will be redesigned and fitted out with modern technology including flat screen televisions and high speed Internet access.

There will be two Club floors for business travellers.

"This refurbishment will put the Crowne Plaza back at the heart of this global city," said the hotel's general manager, Michael Mason.

"We are ideally located in B1 to serve the needs of the city's local businesses and visitors to the International Convention Centre. We plan to regain our position as 'the venue' in Birmingham."

Centre Island is a Merseyside based, privately funded business. It has a turnover of £32 million and employees 800 across its eight hotels, mostly in the North.

http://www.birminghampost.net/birmin...5233-20766818/

[feltip]

There is a repeat of the above article on Caterer Search with a tiny image of the refurb.

http://www.caterersearch.com/Article...ham-hotel.html

[Mercurius]

Thats looking excellent! This area will be so transformed over the next few years!
Thanks for the info Feltip also

[CityGent]

Quick verbal update - will try to grab pics tomorrow... there is a further darker render added, charcoal in colour - could this be final colour? Rectangular false frontage at the entrance is on the way, shame to get rid of the 'tents'/triangles. Cladding added to N side, still with wrapping on but looks a teensy bit Travelodge so far still early days though.

[NeilM]

Well, it was never going to be anything special, just have to hope it doesn't come out like travelodge, otherwise it wont last very long if people on this forum have anything to do with it, lol

[Joe Brody]

Are they covering the triangles and the zigzags and pillars at the front? One of the things that make the building of any interest?

[CityGent]

Refurb continues today:





The 'tents' get rectangularised:






Now the wraps are off the cladding looks gorgeous.

[-Stiggy-]

Good pics! This looks to me like a cross between Hyatt and Centenary Plaza now. 2nd pic shows the reflecting glass on both itself and Hyatt, last pic shows the similarities between the grey and black of C-Plaza. It's either been very cleverly thought out or i'm just reading into things too much lol.

[CityGent]

Yep I noticed the similarities between Centenary Plaza and the hotel, if the Axis was clad in the same way it'd make a nice co-ordinated courtyard for the V building. Plus the planners have an up-close view so they have to do a good job!

[Engels]

Just looked back at the photos on the first page of this thread.. that was only 6 weeks ago and my lord what a change. External referb should be done in 6 more then

Just one thing can we tell if the box at the top of the building is definitly gonna stretch across the whole length of the frontage now just as in the reneders we have seen. Will look much better (cleaner lines) if so.

[smysticed]

Wow, that's really nice. I was sceptical about how effective this refurbishment was going to be, but having seen those pictures, I'm much more optimistic. They do seem to be really smartening the thing up, and it should manage to look pretty classy.

[Joe Brody]

Originally Posted by CityGent

Yep I noticed the similarities between Centenary Plaza and the hotel, if the Axis was clad in the same way it'd make a nice co-ordinated courtyard for the V building. Plus the planners have an up-close view so they have to do a good job!

Axis is v cool as it is thanks!

[feltip]

Some from today

[Brummyboy92]

Hmmm I dont know, it looks a bit strange with the lighter and darker cladding, and also will the sign be replaced to fit in with the rest of the building?

[Nacho]

Thanks for the update feltip . Just look how much grey is in the photo below .It looks as if the tarmac is an extension of the building . The lamposts don't help either . I hope we will be getting a touch of colour here .

Originally Posted by feltip

]

[smysticed]

Here's a sort of render. Not much colour going on, just a bit of red from the sign.

[Nacho]

Cheers , I never thought of checking the V renders .

[TJF]

Thanks for the pics. This one shows nicely just how much of an improvement the new cladding is.



and what's that little house like building in the foreground? Never noticed that before.

[U475 Foxtrot]

I often walk past it and bore whoever I'm with, that it would make a great little bar or restaurant.

I'm sure I have some photos somewhere. I'll have a search