Steel opens up historic London building

London’s world famous Café Royal on Regent Street is being redeveloped into a five star luxury hotel, with structural steelwork playing an integral role in the work.

The project will require Billington Structures to install more than 1,200t of steelwork for building strengthening, as well as for replacing floors and tying new concrete cores back to the retained façades.

This will provide the building with a new interior to house 160 bedrooms, a spa, a restaurant and 1,486m² of retail space.

As the Café Royal is a Grade II listed building, much of the historic old structure is to be retained as part of the new build.

Mike Fewster, Chief Operations Officer at Billington Holdings said: “Billington remains focused on customer service and we are delighted to have won the contract for the redevelopment of the Café Royal. Our expertise in the sector is second to none, allowing us to be put forward for work, despite difficult market conditions.”

Main contractor for the project is Mace, and the development is scheduled to be open in time for the 2012 London Olympics.