Juno Court is a 1980’s office building close to the Tower of London which was unable to provide flexible modern office accommodation and as a result had been empty for several years. Following feasibility studies to convert the building into hotel use it was acquired by Omni Property with a pre-let to Sleep-Inn, part of Choice Hotels Europe. The accommodation consists of 163 bedrooms, a breakfast room, meeting room and a café/bar. The design challenge was to provide bedrooms meeting the operator’s standard requirements within the restrictions imposed by a building designed for a different purpose. Although many of the rooms are standard a large number were individually tailored to fit in with the building. As a result there is a wide range of room types and sizes, which is one of the attractions of the hotel.
The Design & Build contract was tendered to specialist contractors and a £6m fast-track contract was placed with Peppiatt Contracts Ltd in mid-2006. Prefabricated bathroom pods were specified and delivered to site from Czech Republic, providing an extremely high quality of finish and an economic solution in terms of programme and cost. The completed building was handed over in early 2007 and opened for trading in March. Both developer and operator are highly satisfied with the end result and the hotel is currently the brand’s top performer in the country.
