Grand Central Hotel, Belfast

The Grand Central Hotel, appropriately named both in stature and design, has been transformed from the former dilapidated Windsor House office building to become a magnificent 4.5 star hotel by the Hastings Group. The hotel brings a new era of glamour and grandeur to the heart of Belfast.

The project scope also included one-off pieces, created specifically for the hotel’s spaces. Working with the specification, our design team managed to bring the client’s grand vision for the Grand Central to life.

The bedroom furniture composition included, wardrobes, tea stations, bedside lockers, detailed headboards with plush custom-made upholstery, desks, bathroom vanities, lighting and mirrors. Bespoke high-end bedroom suites featured bookshelves, extravagant headboards and customised desks with a nod to the art deco style were also included in the package.

The rooms were designed in a way that maximises the available space and the rich materials complemented by the mood lighting help create a warm, contemporary ambience. The client opted for an elegant palette of dark brown cabinetry with metallic hardware and topped off with coral reef stone worktop surfaces.

Each suite offers a kitchenette with electrical appliances, open shelving as well as a comfortable living area. Emphasising our values of bespoke design and flexible manufacturing, we custom designed a book shelf with bronze mirror panels inset into the shelving spaces.

For the bathroom vanity unit, we combined light and dark wood-grains and integrated LED strip lighting. We added a touch of elegance with the metal legs and handles and an exquisite stone worktop.

Being in the heart of Belfast, this project had its own set of challenges. Pre-loading to all 21 floors in advance of installation was difficult due to the constraints of vertical movements as the hoist was taken down in advance of fitting on site. Storage also proved a challenge, but we overcame this by working closely with the site management team.

Overall, this project involved curating a mix of furnishings and finishes to create a classic, contemporary design, whilst feeling luxurious for many years to come.