For many years the Corus Hotel stood at Lancaster Gate, just across the road from Hyde Park. After a £42 million refurbishment and extension, it has reopened as Hyde & Seek: a four-star hotel with 309 rooms and suites, designed to bring the park indoors. Working with Immersive Hospitality and Vertiq Hospitality Partners, Leaflike was asked to design, create and care for the planting inside and out..
Hyde & Seek is a new hospitality concept for the UK. It pairs a beautifully finished interior with a guest experience meant to draw people in and hold them there. The planting had to play its part in that from the pavement onwards, and feel as carefully considered as everything around it.
The Challenge
A transformation on this scale involves a great many people. We joined during early design development and cost planning, and stayed through construction to the final days before opening. That meant working closely with the owners, the operators, interior designers Goddard Littlefair and main contractor County Contractors. It also meant fitting our work around a busy construction programme without letting the finish suffer. Expectations around the opening were high, and rightly so.
The Solution
We curated two styles of planting that answer each other. Outside, formal topiary gives the hotel an elegant, architectural presence on the street, with clean lines that suit its grand Victorian frontage. Step inside and the mood changes. Lush, garden-inspired greenery runs throughout the hotel, softer and more generous, so guests feel surrounded by the park they have just walked past.
The move from one to the other is part of the experience. The order at the front door relaxes into something fuller and more immersive once you are inside.
We orchestrated the creation alongside the wider build, so the planting was finished to the same standard as the rest of the hotel in time for the first guests. Now that the doors are open, our team looks after the health and appearance of every display, so it looks as good months from now as it did on opening day.
Do you have a similar project? So, if you’re planning a hotel transformation and want the planting to be part of the story from the very first drawing, give us a call.
