nuts & bolts

The brief was specific; to create a unique and sustainable building that blends with and enhances the local environment, utilising the spectacular cliff-top location and views to construct a feeling of space and light.

The Scarlet team had a very clear idea of the ‘wow’ factor they wanted to create with the new hotel and chose the architect team at the Harrison Sutton Partnership and the building team Bauwerk to help them realise this dream.

The design works around clever use of levels, revealing function and glimpses of views, with a central ‘wall’ to physically anchor the building to the cliff side.

Bedrooms are broken down into smaller clusters, giving the advantage of dissolving the traditional boring hotel plan of long corridors to form shorter connecting spaces, some curved in plan. All focused around the view, but with varying spaces such as intimate gardens, shell-like viewing pods and wrap around terraces.

The front of the building is the organic façade with sea thrift roof and reclaimed groynes. The front edge of the building relating to the cliffs was seen as providing a more organic façade, where the building envelope stops and the coastal landscape of scrub and cliff takes over. Here, the design team saw the character of the cliff top wrapping up against and over the lower bedrooms, using a green roof to link the natural fronting ground level to the roof beyond.

From the very outset sustainability of the new hotel was of paramount importance. With the focus on high levels of insulation, air tightness, utilisation of solar orientation and natural cooling, the hotel build provided a sound base for the managerial handling of green issues. The team considered all major options for sustainable energy creation before settling upon a combination of different energy sources.

Not forgetting the interior design, we were delighted to have Max Bentheim on board to create our stunning results.  Max Bentheim are an exciting multi disciplinary design-agency providing a variety of unique interiors and design solutions for the top end residential market and 5* hospitality industry with a young, progressive team of highly professional, multi faceted and dedicated designers.

We appreciated early in the development process that delivering such a complex project with vast array of designers, contractors, suppliers and artists was going to be very challenging. To help us bring all the strands of the project together we employed Andy Cook.  His experience enabled us to deliver our beautiful hotel without compromising our criteria for sustainability, cost and programme. The Scarlet has been a springboard for Andy's new Project Management company, Ease.