Hotel launches new rooms after local firm saved the day when flood struck
A POPULAR hotel will celebrate launching a range of refurbished rooms this month, after a local firm came to the rescue during a flood to get it back on its feet in record time.
Holiday Inn Dumfries, set in the award-winning 85-acre parkland and gardens of the historic Crichton Estate, will reopen 16 newly-refurbished bedrooms this month.
The 71-bedroom venue, one of 31 hotels owned or operated by Jupiter Hotels under the leadership of CEO Shane Harris, is popular for business customers, families and weddings.
The 16 bedrooms had to be put out of action after a burst water main caused flood damage last autumn.
Helen Hooper Interiors are the incumbent interior designers for Jupiter Hotels and Helen Hooper led the design process for the rooms that will be ready to welcome visitors this month.
Jamie Milligan, General Manager at Holiday Inn Dumfries said: “We are looking forward to welcoming all our guests to our newly refurbished rooms which we are sure they are going to love.”
Local specialists Eco, who answered the hotel’s initial SOS call when the flood struck, have carried out the full high-quality refurbishment.
Martin Curtis, Property Manager at Jupiter Hotels is full of praise for the way Eco helped save the day and then went on to ensure the hotel now offers a better than ever guest experience.
Martin said: “We have very demanding, exacting, technical and quality standards and from start to finish, from the initial emergency to completing the full refurbishment, Eco has met them all.
“They are a one-stop shop, with all their different skills, their building skills, flooring skills, interior design skills, and restoration skills.
“They always did things the way they said they would, and worked collaboratively with the hotel team to complete the job on time, on budget and to our very high standards.”
The Dumfries hotel, built in 2008, is one of two Holiday Inn hotels owned by Jupiter Hotels, which also owns 27 Mercure Hotels, and operates two ‘independent’ hotels.
The year-round popularity of the hotel, which also hosts a range of events, weddings, conferences and meetings, made continuous service while the repair work was carried out extremely important for the business.
“We have high occupancy rates at the Dumfries hotel and it was very important to us that the rest of the hotel wasn’t affected throughout the restoration work,” said Martin.
“From the very first day Eco stepped in, and throughout the work, they had a good relationship with everyone and worked in a way which enabled us to carry on trading without any disruption to our guests.”
Eco, run by managing director Eddie Black, whose clients include Pirelli, Armstrong Watson, and Direct Rail Services, has bases in Carlisle, Mealsgate near Cockermouth, Dumfries, Creca, and is building its own 3,000 square metre state-of-the-art HQ for 80 staff in Annan due to open in the summer.
Paul Currie, Eco’s contracts manager, said: “What we at Eco pride ourselves on is that when someone has got a problem, we come up with a solution.
“Within 90 minutes of the call from Jamie, we were on site with nine of our team, including managing director Eddie Black and myself.
“We took over the situation. We got the water out of the building as quickly as we could including removing a floor to ceiling window for quick and safe access to skips and containers.
“We put temporary partitions up so that none of the guests would be affected by the areas we were working in and allowed us to comply with fire safety legislation.
“Within two hours we had 15 dehumidifiers on site and we removed the carpets and skirting boards to alleviate damp going up the walls.”
The Eco team got the furniture out of the hotel and into storage and sent any furniture for restoration to the Ghyll House arm of its business.
They also brought in expert drying out specialists to assess the situation and draw up a programme of action which Eco carried out.
And they used their contacts to immediately involve McGowan Miller chartered surveyors from Dumfries when the insurance company didn’t have anyone who could help nearby.
Eco’s response to the emergency situation was so efficient, that when Jupiter Hotels appointed a principal contractor to restore the hotel, Eddie Black’s firm were at the head of the queue.
Eco are experts in every aspect of a build, from finding sites, to pre-plans, design, build, fit-out and furnishings, and everything in between.
“We do all sorts of projects with a range of clients, whether it’s hotels, businesses, or residential all over Cumbria and Scotland,” said Paul.
“When it came to the flood restoration at Dumfries we did everything floor to ceiling. The hotel had a very tight 12-week timescale and we came in within budget and on time.
“All the trades were involved, the joinery work, plastering, tiling, electricals, flooring, plumbing, internal decoration - at one stage we had eight painters all working at the same time.
“Because the hotel didn’t want any joins in its corridor carpet we carried in a 32-metre by four-metre carpet in one piece which weighed almost 200 kilos!”
When it came to the fine detail of the furnishings and fabrics, Eco also came up trumps.
Martin said: “Helen Hooper Interiors do amazing schemes for us throughout our portfolio – each is unique. Helen came up with a scheme of colours, finishes and casegoods that was value engineered to meet the budget.
“Through Eco’s interior design consultant Fiona Boyle they were then able to source all the furnishings and fabrics and carry out all the refurbishment, in a completely new-look, all done to Helen’s scheme.”
As well as supplying all the furniture, cushions, curtains and carpets, Eco had the added benefit of being able to turn to its Ghyll House business to reupholster some of the hotel’s existing furniture providing an added value for money solution, while maintaining quality standards.
Martin said: “In every aspect of the work, Eco did an excellent job for us. When other opportunities arise in our hotel’s I am sure we will look to do business with them again.”
*This press release is issued on behalf of Eco by 32West. For further information including interview opportunities with Eddie Black, contact Jonathan Lee on 01229 808306 or 07444 022038 or email jonathan@32west.co.uk
