May 2009
New five -star hotel to open at Heathrow
Approval has been granted for Fosters and Partners' design for a 13-storey new-build hotel on Heathrow's Bath Road.
The design firm says the property will feature a flexible 1,200-capacity ballroom, two auditoriums and a large conference room, as well as health centre with swimming pool, gym, saunas and treatment rooms.
The hotel will be built on the Airport Bowl site, a bowling centre located on the Bath Road opposite the Premier Inn Heathrow Airport. The centre will be reinstated within the new building at basement level, and will remain a public facility.
The hotel is being developed by Riva Properties, and the design includes a “distinctive layered glass shell, which floods the public spaces with daylight and contributes to a highly efficient energy strategy”. Rooms will be housed within six “pavillions”, linked by bridges and “wrapped in a unifying glass envelope”, designed to act as a barrier against aircraft noise.
Several floors of the hotel will be sunk below ground level, with the entrance lobby featuring a floating glass deck with views down to the sunken restaurant level, a shallow pool and waterfall.
