One of our latest projects with long-term client Whitbread involves not only extending one of its existing Premier Inn hotels in Leamington Spa but breathing new life into an adjoining empty building to showcase an exciting restaurant brand.

The majority of Premier Inn hotels include somewhere to enjoy a meal and, for this project, Whitbread has included one of its top brands – Bar & Block. The 148-cover restaurant offers a menu based around steak, from steak and eggs for breakfast through to cuts chosen from a rotating butcher’s block, a feature of Bar & Block restaurants.

The eatery has opened on the ground floor of a former bank building – which had been derelict for nearly 10 years – and features architecture very much in keeping with that of this beautiful spa town. The frontage of the parade is being keep largely unaltered, although improvements have been made, reinstating stonework where there had been cash machines.

The creation of the Bar & Block restaurant involved significant structural alteration to open-up the space and provide quality dining and bar areas, as well as space for the kitchen, and outdoor areas – all whilst sympathetically enhancing the façade. The project was also complex due to the structural work, sound and fire proofing between the Premier Inn and the restaurant.

PSE worked closely with Bar & Block and its design team, Harrison, to create the high quality of finish and design detail demanded by this brand.

This first phase of the refurbishment will also see the opening of 13 new bedrooms in the floors above, and a further six bedrooms in the original restaurant area of the existing Premier Inn.

“This is a particularly interesting project as the hotel/restaurant complex is being extended into a derelict Grade II-listed building, which has seen us work closely with the local Heritage Officer, who has obviously wanted to see the original integrity of the building maintained, while it was also important that the brand was maintained as well,” says Tom Newman, part of the Premier Inn team at PSE Associates.

“We are very happy to have heard some very positive comments from the local council regarding the ‘extremely high standard’ of the work so far.”

As with any project, PSE Associates provided its quantity surveying and project management support working as part of a team and, on this project, this included HB Architects, which provided full architectural services for the restaurant shell and the Premier Inn rooms, Simpson Associates (engineers), Jenks Associates (M&E) and Carter Lauren (contractor)

“We have enjoyed bringing our skills and experience of working with some of the world’s most iconic restaurant brands to this project for Whitbread,” says Matt Mills, a director at PSE Associates who leads the Premier Inn team.

“A huge amount of our work involves creating stand out restaurants and bars within the confines of existing and often historic buildings. Seeing Bar & Block open in Leamington Spa is just the first part of this project – with the handover of bedrooms planned over the next few weeks.”

PSE Associates provides traditional professional Quantity Surveying and Project Management services to many brand leaders in the leisure, retail and commercial sectors.