Voco Grand Central

First designed as a British Railway hotel in the late nineteenth century the prestigious building welcomed visitors such as Winston Churchill and Frank Sinatra. Situated at the heart of Glasgow City Centre the hotel was acquired by IHG as part of their re-branding programme.

The building is complicated due to its age, Category A status and proximity to Glasgow Grand Central station which required careful planning and phasing to ensure all parties involved were satisfied with the proposals. The hotel has 243 guestrooms and 16 suites, 184 guestrooms were refurbished as part of the works. Other areas upgraded alongside the guestrooms were meeting rooms, ballroom and The Champagne Bar.

This was a complex installation due to the construction of the building; the interior has many ornate listed features, arched corridors and thick stone walls. The solution was to create a corridor ceiling raft to contain the services to be distributed across to each guest room. Therefore, the original cornicing, stone archways and other feature could remain intact and still visible as part of the building’s history and heritage.

Understanding the Voco brand and developing the requirements into the refurbishment allowed the building to express its individuality and unique appearance, whilst providing a modernised hotel for guests and visitors.