Hyatt Regency, Albert Embankment

Top-down approach allows simultaneous construction of sub- & super structures, reducing programme by 12 months

The Hyatt Regency Hotel at Albert Embankment (a Crowne Plaza hotel at the time) is a landmark luxury hotel with 14 storeys of superstructure over a double basement was built using top-down construction techniques on a tightly constrained site.

Walsh suggested that the basement to be constructed using “Top-Down” techniques and this recommendation was adopted by the client to reduce overall programme by a year. Post-tensioned floor slabs of only 200mm in thickness were used to keep the weight of the building down to make this feasible. Plunge stanchions in the piles were used to support the ground floor structure allowing the double-storey basement to be constructed simultaneously with the frame. This allowed the roof slab to be cast some weeks before excavation for the permanent foundations was complete.

Following completion of the frame and substructure, an enclosed rooftop bar and restaurant were added to the scheme. Walsh developed a lightweight structural solution that enabled this upward extension without adversely affecting or delaying the fit-out and operation of the main hotel below.