Ica Architects operate throughout the UK, providing architectural, interior design and consultancy services through its three divisions: Ica Architects, Ica Interiors and Ica Hotel Services. The three directors, Ian Burleigh, Chris Fegan and Alastair Horner, established the practice in 2003.
Ica Architects specialises in hotel design and has a track record covering the full range of the market from luxury boutique hotels to branded hotels and budget hotels. Ica Architects work has included new build hotel construction as well as refurbishment and conversion. In addition to hotel building projects Ica Architects and Ica Interiors also design hotel brands and provide technical and design advice to many of the major international hotel chains. Ica Interiors recently won The European Hotel Design Awards for their redesign of the Holiday Inn Express brand for Intercontinental Hotels Group which now forms their global design standards.
One of Ica’s most prestigious projects, the Hotel Indigo in Glasgow, has just opened for business. Originally constructed in 1892, the former Italian Palazzo-style building on the corner of Waterloo Street and Blythswood Street was home to the city’s first electric lighting station. The huge dynamos in the basement were switched on just over a decade after the American inventor Thomas Edison patented the electric light bulb. The building then underwent substantial changes in 1930. These changes gave the building its modern grid-iron city centre appearance, which it retains to the present day.
The transformation of this vacant B-listed 19th Century building with its semi-industrial past into a contemporary boutique hotel preserves the essence of the ‘spirit’ of the building’s 1930’s Art Deco and Beaux Arts alterations and additions of that time. The practice managed to deliver the whole project in just two years, which is the InterContinental Hotel Group’s first Scottish-based Hotel Indigo brand with its aptly-named Limelight Bar and Grill, thanks to fruitful negotiations with the city planners.
Ian Burleigh explains, “One of the main planning issues with the authorities of GCC Heritage and Design and Historic Scotland was to retain the existing ornate plasterwork of the ceilings and bulkheads on the former ground floor showroom dating back to the 1930’s. We also worked within the constraints of the Art Deco black granite shop front openings at street level. The planners agreed with our suggestion to remove an existing central staircase in order to free up the ground floor plan and to maximise the street activation of the ground floor, together with a proposed setback rooftop extension, which added a further 25% of bedroom accommodation.”
Ica Architects generated a very efficient ‘fit’ between the various elements of the Hotel Indigo brand and the existing building structure by making substantial structural changes to accommodate the cores required for a modern hotel. This was a fundamental move that breathed new life into the building.
On this prestigious project, Ica Architects also relied upon premier suppliers to ensure its success, including Musbury Contracts, a Lancashire-based manufacturer that can offer everything from face cloths to a full refurbishment, including a full measure, manufacture and fit service.
Finally, another refurbishment project on site at the moment is the Residence Inn by Marriott in Quartermile, Edinburgh, the first of its kind in the UK. The 107-bed apartment will be targeted at long stay customers; it is a real contrast to work on this building, which is modern and was designed by Norman Foster. The project is due for completion in October of this year.
For further information ring 01355 578070 or visit www.icaarchitects.com.
