Mint Hotel, Commendation at the 2012 Concrete Society Awards

Completed in December 2010, the new 583 bedroom Mint Hotel, Tower of London is the largest hotel in London’s Square Mile and contains CEMEX concrete.

This new hotel has been designed to complement this historically significant part of the City of London by taking into account the surrounding urban fabric, aligning with the medieval street patterns, seeking to enliven the streetscape and maximise rooftop public access.  Its secondary objective was to achieve the highest possible sustainability credentials all to be delivered to a tight budget and programme.

Originally known as City Inn during its construction phase during 2009 and 2010, the hotel was constructed by Laing O’Rouke.  A central full-height courtyard forms the ‘heart’ of the hotel and incorporates the foyer, reception, conference break-out and lobby bar over two levels. This area features fair faced concrete columns topped with similarly fair faced 2 metre deep diagonal beams.

Hovering above the hotel’s roof sits the cantilevered SkyLounge.  This metallic element links to external roof gardens with incredible 360 degree views of London.

In conjunction with the design features, extensive passive and active environmental measures have been integrated into the building, reducing carbon emissions by over 30%. The whole building achieved a BREEAM rating of “Very Good”

One of the key requirements was for the highest acoustic attenuation between bedrooms, so the SCC was used to infill the twin wall system consisting of concrete frames and walls.

The only applied finish to the concrete is a nominal sprayed plaster, which allows the concrete’s thermal mass to be used to aid heating and cooling.  The combined measures means the building has achieved an EPC rating of B, exceptional for a fully conditioned 4-star hotel.

CEMEX technical staff had early involvement with concrete supplied for various applications including the fair faced finish and Grade 50/60 self-compacting concrete from Stepney and Canning Town plants.

Thanks to Concrete magazine for the photographs and information.