Architecture Day Organised by Europa Nostra UK in London

Visit to the offices of Donald Insall Associates and Crown Estate Properties, including the Hotel Café Royal

This is the first of an intended series of ENUK Architecture Days, on which we are visiting the London offices of Donald Insall Associates (past winners of more Europa Nostra Awards than any other organisation), for initial talks and discussion on major conservation projects and the philosophical principles guiding their work. We shall follow this with site visits.

DIA’s Offices are at 12 Devonshire Street, London W1G 7AB (tel. +44 20 7245 9888)

We shall meet here at 11.15 a.m for coffee and an introductory illustrated talk by Sir Donald Insall, after which we shall hear from his colleagues about their specific involvement in two recent projects:-

Tanvir Hasan (Director and Deputy Chairman) – Crown Estate Properties in Regent Street: Major conservation projects, in particular collaboration with Dixon Jones Architects at the former Regent Palace Hotel

Fiona Raley (Associate Director and Architect acting as Historic Buildings Consultant in collaboration with David Chipperfield Architects) – The Hotel Café Royal: practical approach, working in collaboration, design, problems and solutions

After a sandwich lunch, we will visit the restored historic interiors of the celebrated Hotel Café Royal, now occupied again and in full swing, and the Brasserie Zédel: its art deco interiors have been restored and relocated to a site within the former Regent Palace Hotel. (Transport provided.)

For those interested in extending the tour, we intend to complete the day by walking along Lower Regent Street and down the flight of steps to The Mall to see the Royal Memorial, in the company of DIA consultant architect, Tony Dyson. The Memorial’s access steps and statuary features were completed in 2009, extensively adapting and converting a previous memorial to King George VI, to include the Queen Elizabeth Memorial which celebrates the life of the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. This project too is the result of architectural teamwork, on this occasion by DIA with Donald Buttress.

A booking form is available here. The fee for the day is £15 per person, to include a sandwich lunch, a glass of wine and coffee, and transport from the DIA Offices to the Hotel Café Royal.

Please reply by Monday, 15th February.
Europa Nostra UK warmly welcomes non-UK members to its events.