The decorative plaster ceiling of the hotel’s grand entrance hall suffered water damage and had completely caved in. As one of the most luxurious hotels in London, Claridge’s needed us to reinstate the decorative plaster ceiling swiftly and efficiently, so as not to cause interruptions to its guests. There was no room for error or delay in such heritage plasterwork, as the hotel was open throughout the entire works.

The dramatic entrance hall is a sophisticated 1930s addition to the building. Working with the remains of the existing decorative plaster ceiling, site dimensions and archive photos, we pieced together the original Art Deco plaster decoration in our workshop. Many sections were missing, so we mapped out the entire decorative plaster ceiling on AutoCAD, then produced hand sketches of all the individual components. Once the plaster ceiling design was approved, we sculpted and cast in plaster, following the client’s suggestion that the sculpting not be too sharp to blend perfectly into existing heritage plasterwork.

Fitting on site was a challenge too, as the hotel never closed its doors. We drew, sculpted and fitted two 12m x 5m ceilings in just eight weeks; the fitting alone was done in only two weeks.

It’s a testament to our extraordinary team who perform calmly and methodically under pressure.