Subterranean Hotel Scheme for London’s Green Belt
At a glance
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ReardonSmith Architects
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Architect's statement
A scheme for a unique, sustainable and innovative luxury hotel and spa, designed by international hotel and resort architects, ReardonSmith, has been revealed by public exhibition prior to the submission of a planning application in the new year. The proposed development, at Hersham Golf Club in Surrey, is within London’s Green Belt and the architects’ response to the area’s strict planning guidelines has been to place all 200 plus guestrooms underground around landscaped courtyards, leaving just one level of public areas at grade. The proposal is topped by a living green roof that mimics the undulating nature of the golf course and merges it into the surrounding landscape. In total, the ReardonSmith scheme represents in the region of one third less built-up hard surface than the existing club houses and car parking.
Hersham Golf Club stands in an area of woodland and the proposal respects and reflects this. Car parking, which is currently above ground, will be relocated underground. The existing golf clubhouse and car park will be demolished and replaced by a new clubhouse integrated within the hotel. A dedicated new access road, carefully woven into the landscape, will better manage the flow of traffic onto the site. The proposal also includes provision for extensive on-site re-vegetation and improvements to local public footpaths to further enhance the site.
“Our concept integrates hotel, spa and golf facilities into a single architecturally exciting and organic composition below and above ground,” explains Matthew Guy, ReardonSmith’s project designer. “The design fulfils the requirements of the brief for a bespoke five star hotel while returning hard standing to the Green Belt and improving the physical layout and visual attraction of the entire site. It represents a commercially viable solution to developing in the Green Belt and is, we believe, a world-first.”
The two underground levels of the hotel comprise three “rings” of guestrooms, each built around large 800m2 garden courtyards, allowing light to permeate the fully glazed façade. Public spaces, including high quality restaurants, will be contained within a single level at grade. Contouring mimicking the undulating nature of the course will conceal this level and merge it with the natural landscape. The entire development is set back from the local residential area and is positioned within an enclave of existing woodland in such a way that it is hidden from view for local residents. Carefully framed views from all the hotel’s public areas of the golf course and woodland will make for a unique dining, hotel and golf club experience. The total area of the hotel and new golf club will be approximately 16,500 sq metres.
Reflecting on the implicit challenges of the brief, Patrick Reardon, executive chairman of ReardonSmith, says: “The question was how to design a hotel of significant size that would not disturb the Green Belt environment. In fact, our solution attempts not only to preserve the essence of Green Belt amenity but also to improve it by the removal of existing and highly visible buildings and hard standing parking zones. The process required to achieve this proposed hotel will be expensive. But, the client accepts this and is to be congratulated for his willingness to invest in a solution which clearly responds to environmental, as well as commercial, imperatives.”
Both hotel and spa have been designed to minimise their carbon footprint by using combined heat and power generation, heat exchangers and ground source heat pumps together with grey water recycling and rain water harvesting. It is confidently anticipated that the building’s resource demands will be significantly reduced in comparison to conventional five star hotels.
Mr Cahit Atasoy, CEO of Arkin Group, the owner of Hersham Golf Club, says: “Our vision is to create a stunning boutique hotel and spa destination that will be truly unique and prestigious. It will blend into the natural woodland setting and enhance and increase the level of green landscape.”
Subterranean Hotel Scheme for London’s Green Belt was submitted by ReardonSmith Architects and was last updated on May 18, 2010. You can learn more about ReardonSmith Architects by visiting this website.