Shangri-La at the Shard
A world-famous brand in an iconic building
Shangri-La’s first UK hotel at the Shard in London features 202 guestrooms, three food and beverage offerings, river-facing event spaces, a 24-hour gym, luxury spa and London’s highest infinity pool. As executive architects, we helped Shangri-La’s design management team deliver this iconic project on site.
We dealt with technical issues around the design and construction of the project and transformed the interiors scheme into buildable designs without losing the concept. Our wide-ranging role included building regulation compliance, helping with services coordination and everything in between.
Many hotels have common layouts for each floor which makes replication of solutions much simpler. At the Shangri-La, while the rooms share a common language in design terms, each room has a different layout multiplying the number of design solutions required.
"The Shard is one of London’s most iconic buildings. It was both a privilege and challenge to work on the delivery of a hotel in a building of such status. Working with a brand as prestigious as Shangri-La, particularly on their first London hotel, was a defining moment for our practice. Personally, I would recommend taking a dip in London’s highest infinity pool on Level 52 where you can experience the breath-taking views of London, while enjoying the Asian-inspired hospitality style of Shangri-La."
"Access, movements and tolerance presented some of the main challenges on this project. With so many contractors, accessing the upper floors during construction was difficult with everyone competing for a limited number of lifts. Imagine trying to build a hotel on the Northern Line tube during rush hour while transporting materials and people at the same time and you’ll get the picture."
"The Shard moves and sways, particularly during high winds, and these movements have to be allowed for in the construction to prevent cracks appearing and joints opening up. All of this is bound up in the tolerances required to permit such movement but allow everything to hold together. It sounds alarming but really is imperceptible to the building users, ensuring you don’t spill your champagne cocktail!"
Awards and nominations
- Client
- Shangri-La Group
- Location
- London, United Kingdom
- Status
- Completed 2014
- Uses
- Hotel
- Size
- 202 keys
- Photos
- Andy Stagg & Shangri-La