The Bloomsbury Hotel

London, UK

Designed in the 1930s by renowned British Architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens, The Bloomsbury Hotel already underwent a sensitive restoration to become the chic heritage hotel it is today. Retaining many of its original architectural features, the iconic hotel hosts a double-height lobby, elegant prohibition era bar, library and 153 guests rooms and suites. The hotel also hosts a variety of meetings rooms and event halls of all sizes, as well as fully equipped dining areas and kitchens.

Seeking comfort with improved environmental standards

The Doyle Collection, the owners of the hotel, wanted to lower the building's energy usage and cut CO² emissions by 30%. They also sought to improve comfort levels for guests by optimising climate control in all guest rooms, meeting spaces, and in the bar and restaurant. Keeping to a nine-month programme was essential to ensure minimal revenue losses.

"The challenge for this project was to preserve the historic interior and exterior of the building. With Daikin VRV, we knew that we could easily take on this challenge and improve our system's energy efficiency. Along with Daikin UK, this was a great team effort—showing the benefit of a strong and lasting working relationship between client and contractor."

- Michael Neve, General Manager, The Bloomsbury Hotel

Fully efficient system replacement with minimal disruption

For this project, we installed 56 outdoor units linked to 209 indoor ducted and wall-mounted concealed units in the guest rooms. For the communal areas we chose to install a mixture of wall-mounted and floor standing units.

Our VRV-Q system was the perfect choice for The Bloomsbury Hotel because the units are energy-efficient and flexible. Equipped with refrigerant R-410A but functioning at a pressure level like most refrigerant R-22 systems, VRV-Q units are 40% more efficient in heating and 25% more in cooling than an R-22 system.

Compact and lightweight, VRV-Q units are easy to install and cost-effective because they use existing piping and wiring. This means the renovation price was cut in half because it does not need a full pipe replacement. Installing the VRV-Q units floor-by-floor also allowed the hotel to stay open during the renovation.