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  


against the ubiquitous punched window aesthetic of the average hotel exterior”. The design features flush windows on a convex central spine that appear to vanish into the ‘wallpaper’ of the screen-printed glazed façade. On the stainless steel clad concave crescent wings, windows feature in a series of vertical slots. “The Aloft hotel will enhance the visual identity of the area and


importantly bring much needed additional visitor accommoda- tion to Docklands,” says Jestico + Whiles director, John Whiles. In addition to the 252 bedrooms, the hotel includes a triple


height front-of-house area, including an entrance hall, bar, lounge, meeting rooms, fitness suite and offices plus a separate bar and restaurant, and a spiral staircase from ground floor to level two. This front-of-house area looks out onto a pedestrian piazza on


the opposite side of the hotel to the side of the footprint border- ing the DLR, whose proximity would offer a challenge to the contractor appointed to build out the scheme. A brief was put together and the project put out to tender to


a host of big name contractors, including John Sisk, Galliford Try and Sir Robert McAlpine, which built out the first two phases of the Excel Exhibition Centre itself. The hotel job was taken by Irish-based company McAleer &


Rushe, which, though headquartered in Cookstown, County Tyrone, has moved into the British market and taken on an increasing number of hotel projects. McAleer & Rushe has built 10,000 bedrooms in more than 40


projects for a dozen leading hotel groups, such as Arora, Jurys Doyle and Maldron and also worked successfully with Jestico + Whiles on the W Hotel project in Leicester Square. This project utilised geothermal piles, and the need to


secure an ‘Excellent’ BREEAM score in Docklands require a similar approach, which would be supplemented by a highly insulated façades. Whiles says: “The start on site of Aloft London Excel is an


exciting moment for the practice.” The Excel Hotel project had a timeframe of 68 weeks and ...continued on page 20


© Steve Menary © Steve Menary


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