Project Overview
Nestled in a haven of mature trees and landscaped gardens, the Elms is a quintessential Queen Anne manor house in rolling Worcestershire countryside.
The ambition was to give guests a luxury experience, but with the added benefit of care in a fully accessible environment. This is in line with the ambition for Worcestershire to be the most inclusive County in the UK with the University of Worcester hosting the European Wheelchair Basketball Championships and the proposal for the International Centre of Inclusive Sport.
The challenge was to deliver a high-class hotel and spa sensitively integrated into the existing notable landscape with a number of constraints. With no compromise on finish and existing features retained, state of the art assistive care technology had to be duly incorporated.
A comprehensive masterplan for the refurbishment and new extension was developed by ONE Creative environments (ONE) to preserve and enhance the Estate, while making the most of the existing habitats and landscape structure.
National charity Revitalise assessed and approved the proposed designs, who boast Dame Judi Dench CH DBE as their Vice President and Samantha Cameron as a patron. Revitalise is keen to provide a high-quality hotel experience to their guests and could potentially be a future operator of the hotel and so their input was critical.
Carefully considered architecture and interior design masked the highly adapted necessities of the project and the thorough building services review met the tight regulations.
Significant improvements to the existing adjacent spa were needed to make it more accessible which included linkage to the main hotel for complete accessibility.
Whilst the hotel is well loved locally it does not currently cater sufficiently for large functions. However, the new design addresses this and will secure its future, by creating a world class facility.
40 guest rooms, staff/carer accommodation, communal areas and re-landscaping to allow usable outdoor space across a level changing site all formed part of the scheme.
