Leading London developer Galliard Group is to work with the Crown Estate to convert the magnificent Grade II listed Edwardian headquarters building at 3-5 Great Scotland Yard, once the location of the original Scotland Yard Police Station and later offices for the Ministry of Defence, into a magnificent new 92,000 sq ft 5-star hotel.
Completing June 2016
Galliard Group have acquired a 125 year lease on the building and once complete in June 2016, the new £100 million seven-storey hotel will provide 235 bedrooms and suites including a spectacular VIP suite. Features will include a grand entrance foyer, winter garden lounge, signature restaurant, cocktail bar and lounge, second lounge, library, 120 seater main conference room/ballroom, meeting rooms and function/private dining rooms.
Fascinating and extensive history
3-5 Great Scotland Yard has a fascinating history. In Tudor times it served as an Embassy-style dwelling for the Kings of Scotland when they visited King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I at neighbouring Whitehall Palace: hence the name Great Scotland Yard (from: the place of the Scottish Lords).
In 1829, Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel selected Great Scotland Yard as the headquarters of the newly founded Metropolitan Police force. The building’s main entrance was at 4 Whitehall Place, but a public office was installed to the rear at 3-5 Great Scotland Yard and so gave the headquarters its famous name. It was here that the famous Plaistow Marshes (1864) and Jack the Ripper (1888) crimes were investigated and Scotland Yard was made famous by novelists including Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In 1890 the police headquarters moved to a new location, which was named New Scotland Yard.
In 1910 the current Edwardian building was constructed on the site and served as the British Army Recruitment Office and Royal Military Police headquarters. It is here that Lord Kitchener famously told WWI recruits “Your Country Needs You” and there were cells in the basement for Army deserters. In 1982 a refurbishment introduced a new atrium and the building later became the Ministry of Defence Library until 2004.
Creating one of London’s finest hotels
Costing over £50 million, the 26 month construction programme to create the hotel will commence in January 2014, with the hotel scheduled to open in 2016. In order to create one of London’s finest hotels, the elegant facades of the building will be retained, behind which new floors, luxurious interiors, a bespoke specification and state of the art technology, entertainment systems and security will be integrated to create private and public entertaining spaces and hotel suites of exceptional world-class quality.
The current building at 3-5 Great Scotland Yard has a grand five storey Imperial Red brick and stone façade with arched main entrance, raised ground floor with high ceilings, ornate pediment and tall windows with feature brick and stone detailing. The building will be extended with two new levels of basement and two new floors above the existing roof level including a top storey with a period-style Westmorland slate clad mansard roof and ecological features.
The main ground floor reception and entertaining rooms will include a spacious entrance lobby leading into a magnificent winter garden lounge which is surmounted by a dramatic lofty space consisting of a glass domed multi-storey atrium that rises through all the upper floors of the hotel. Internal feature glazing on the upper floors will provide views into the atrium space and the winter garden lounge below.
The new hotel will also feature a signature restaurant; cocktail lounge and bar; second lounge; library/reading room; and private 18-24 seater dining/function rooms. The lower ground floor has a grand 120+ seater conference room/ballroom and a series of other VIP function rooms. The larger suites in the hotel will open onto private rooftop terraces.
Incorporating No. 1 Great Scotland Yard
An adjoining Edwardian office building at No.1 Great Scotland Yard will be incorporated into the new hotel and this space will be used to create a magnificent VIP-suite for visiting business tycoons, celebrities, musicians and heads of state. Arranged over several floors this VIP suite will link into the main hotel but have the benefit of its own private street entrance. The suite will include a VIP bedroom suite on its own private floor complete with walk-in dressing rooms, day room and a spa-style main bathroom with living room, media room and other entertaining on other levels: one of the most luxurious and expensive hotel suites in central London.
Top operator required for ‘destination hotel’
Galliard Group are currently in the process of approaching the world’s top hotel operators in order to create the perfect luxury destination hotel at the address. The plans propose a bespoke interior design scheme with the front of house having the ambience of a leading New York or Hollywood hotel combined with classic interiors of the highest quality complimented by fabulous destination restaurants, cocktail bars and other leisure facilities.
Stephen Conway, Chief Executive of Galliard Group said: “Our vision is to create one of London’s most outstanding 5-star hotels. It really is a “blue-chip” building with grand architecture, a fascinating history and large dramatic interiors. The street is quiet and tranquil yet on the doorstep of London’s most famous landmarks including Trafalgar Square, No.10 Downing Street, the Mall and Buckingham Palace.”
Don O’ Sullivan, Managing Director of Galliard Group said: “We want to create a world-class hotel of the quality of The Mercer or the Chateau Marmont, a place renowned for exceptional service, destination dining and leisure and outstanding luxury and quality.”
The Galliard Group of Companies
Founded in 1992 and with over 700 staff, Galliard is a property development, hospitality and management group overseeing mixed-use, residential, hotel and commercial projects across London and southern England with a £1.3 billion portfolio of over 5,900 homes, hotels, retail premises and commercial properties.
In addition to 3-5 Great Scotland Yard, Galliard is currently undertaking three other hotel projects in London in Canary Wharf, Greenwich and Deptford providing a total of 284 bedrooms. Recent outstanding examples of Galliard hotel projects include the re-development of the 68 room/suite St James’s Club & Hotel, now one of Mayfair’s finest boutique hotels; the creation of the new 398 bed Park Plaza Hotel at County Hall; and the re-development of the Grade II-Listed Jacobean Harte & Garter Hotel and Spa near Windsor Castle.