Premier Hospitality

Hilton Garden Inn Sunderland

Hilton
Written by Roma Publications

Hilton Garden Inn Sunderland

Hilton

The Hilton Garden Inn Sunderland, adjacent to Sunderland’s Stadium of Light, launched at the end of April making it the only one of its kind between Birmingham and Glasgow.

Following on from the completion of the build, the projects main contractors, Tolent Construction Ltd, handed the keys to owners SFC Hotels, bringing the year-long project to an end.

Members of staff from SFC Hotels were then given a special tour to mark the handover, with many seeing inside of the building for the very first time.

“It has been an honour to be involved in such a landmark project for Sunderland and the wider North East,” said John Wood, Tolent Construction Chairman. “Everything has run relatively smoothly since the beginning of the project and I wish SFC Hotels every success with this prestigious development.”

The Hilton Garden Inn Sunderland, designed by Gateshead-based architects, Redbox Design Group, houses a 24 hour business centre, Karbon Grill Kitchen and Bar destination restaurant, fitness suite and meeting rooms, as well as 141 en-suite guest rooms spread across two wings. The interior of the hotel includes a glass lobby and a banqueting room, which can be used by visiting football teams and clubs.

Barry Farrar, Managing Director at Redbox Design said: “The feedback from the city has been excellent. It is the first quality hotel in the city for some time and all of the dignitaries and councillors who have been think it is fantastic. The support that was given to the project by the football club, the city and the planning department was superb. The political support for having a Hilton branded hotel in the city was also huge.”

Each high quality bedroom in the H-shaped property boasts the brands signature bedding, as well as spacious work desks with ergonomic desk chair, in room mini-fridge, individually controlled air conditioning, large flat screen TV and access to complimentary WIFI.

Barry added: “In terms of the hotel brand, because it is a Hilton Garden Inn, their requirements are very specific in terms of room sizes, finishes and quality. The areas where we have stretched the limits of the brand is in the public areas, the foyer, the bar, the restaurant and the breakout rooms. These areas provide facilities substantially above the normal Garden Inn brand as the football club will use these areas during matches and other corporate events to fully utilise the hotel.”

Hilton

Key contractors involved in the project, managed by professional service providers, Turner & Townsend, have included Opus Building Services, based in Sunderland, Walker Modular based in Yorkshire and Swandene Specialist Contract Interiors, based at Washington, Tyne and Wear alongside many other regional companies.

“The Hilton Garden Inn Sunderland has been a huge undertaking for SFC Hotels,” said Kim Kelso, General Manager. “Getting the keys from Tolent Construction was another step towards providing high quality, good value accommodation to those visiting Sunderland for business or pleasure.”

Barry concluded: “We have delivered many Hilton Hotels including the Hilton Gateshead, and St Georges Park, which is the National Football Training Centre for the English Football Association at Burton upon Trent, which has a core brand Hilton and a Hampton by Hilton, so it is great that whenever Hilton do hotels in our region, they look to us to deliver the projects on their behalf.”

For more information about Hilton Garden Inn, Sunderland please visit www.hgisunderland.hgi.com or www.safc.com/hotel. Bookings can also be made by contacting enquiries@hgisunderland.com.

Further details about the hotel’s restaurant, Karbon Grill Kitchen and Bar, can be found separately by visiting www.safc.com/karbongrill, emailing karbongrill@hgisunderland.com or calling 0191 349 8500.

Hilton

Swandene Specialist Contract Interiors

Swandene Specialist Contract Interiors are a bespoke joinery and furnishings company based in Washington, Tyne and Wear. The company’s manufacturing is carried out at its 15,000 sq. ft. factory, staffed by 40 employees.

Swandene Specialist Contract Interiors was established in 1970 and since this time the company has built a large customer base in the leisure, retail, and health sectors, working for clients such as the NHS, Marston’s, Rank Group, Punch Tavern’s, Sandman Hotel Group and Jury’s Inn.

Having previously worked on projects for Sunderland Football Club the company were very excited to be involved with another project at the Stadium Of Light.

Swandene carried out the fit out of the Karbon Grill restaurant, conference and meeting rooms at the new Hilton Garden Inn Hotel.

Gerard Buckley, Managing Director for Swandene Specialist Contract Interiors, said:

“Our in-house project management and design teams worked closely with Red Box Architecture, Tolent Construction, Turner & Townsend and Sunderland Football Club to deliver the project on time and within budget.”

Gerard added:

“At Swandene we are very proud of our reputation which we have built over many years and which depends on us consistently doing the right thing. Integrity is our cornerstone and character is as important to us as ability. We build trust and act with honesty.”

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Roma Publications