Malmaison Hotel, Liverpool (UK)

• Location: Liverpool (England)
• Architect: Leach Rhodes Walker
• Type of construction: new
• Installation system : Bardage Avec Ossature (BAO)
• Product : GRANITE
• Photographs: James & Taylor Ltd

The opening of the Malmaison in 2008 marked the beginning of a hotel renaissance in Liverpool, which that year was designated European Capital of Culture. Located in Princes Dock, this dazzling boutique hotel brings an air of Manhattan to Liverpool, with a special Malmaison touch.

Liverpool’s Malmaison Hotel is unusual in that it was built ex nihilo, unlike the chain’s other establishments, which are housed in refurbished historic buildings. It boasts 131 rooms and suites with all the usual Malmaison hotel comforts, plus a brasserie, various leisure facilities and conference rooms. The five upper floors have been converted into 41 luxury apartments.

As the building is partly built on the banks of former docks, Morgan Sindall placed it on a pile foundation to ensure its long-term stability. The first three floors are formed of a cast-in-place concrete framework, allowing the open spaces to be designed more freely. Up to the tenth floor, walls and floors are made of precast concrete elements, which can be quickly installed. Finally, the eleventh and twelfth floors are built with a steel framework. The building is clad with Carea cladding, creating a facade with simple but striking lines.

Morgan Sindall has employed modular techniques, particularly for the bathrooms, which are manufactured off-site in the form of fully equipped, ready-to-install “sanitary cells”. This method can shorten the duration of a construction site by several weeks. The machine room installations on the roof were also manufactured off-site, then delivered and installed on prefabricated skids.

Carea supplied around 4,000 m² of GRANITE and SMOOTH MATT framed cladding in a color similar to graphite.