Premier Hospitality

St Michaels Hotel & Spa

St Michaels
Written by Roma Publications

St Michaels Hotel & Spa

St Michaels Hotel and Spa in Falmouth has opened its doors having been transformed into a luxury resort, following a multimillion pound investment.

A new destination spa with the world’s first Cornish sea salt steam room and the largest hydrotherapy pool in the south west with 21 massage stations has been created, alongside a sprawling health club with dedicated Gig Rowing Studio and rowing classes taken to the sound of the ocean-themed song. Fabulous new sleek contemporary bedrooms have been designed alongside two brand new restaurants – all of which are the epitome of the new Cornish cool loved by so many. St Michaels Falmouth, a landmark on the Blue Flag Gyllyngvase beach, emerges from a glamorous makeover, brighter and better than ever with a chic, relaxed vibe.

The new look St Michaels has been brought to life by Chairman Nigel Carpenter in partnership with James Houlston of BH Hotels. The hotels transformation was completed by P Chapman Construction, Architects PBWC and 20/20 Projects.

The new St Michaels Spa set on the ground floor includes a rainforest steam room; glass fronted Finnish herbal sauna; a Moroccan Rhassoul offering a mud steam experience and three experience showers, including an ‘ice Bucket Challenge.’ The journey at St Michaels Spa continues into the garden with a sundeck, Swedish cedar-wood hot tub and barrel sauna with sea views. A deep relaxation room and specialist manicure and pedicure champagne bar, with nailcare by OPI, completes the spa line up.

Linked to St Michaels Spa via a Wellness Walkway is the new and sprawling 13,000sq ft St Michaels Health Club providing magnificent health and sporting facilities for guests and members alike. Spanning three floors, the Health Club is home to Cornwall’s largest hotel gym with an outdoor fitness terrace; a large Spin Studio, a unique Gig Rowing Studio with 8 gigs and over 100 instructor-led classes per week in the fitness studio and outside, taking advantage of St Michael’s superb beachfront location. St Michaels Health Club also offers an indoor swimming pool, sauna, steam room and sun terrace. Four tennis courts are available to hire with personal coaching available on request.

The 32 new bedrooms in The Beach House in St Michaels are contemporary, sleek and fabulously cool. Many of the light-filled bedrooms offer balconies and terraces with spectacular sea and garden views. Interiors draw their inspiration from the coastal surroundings and are a symphony of blues and whites, with details including bedheads made from reclaimed wood and stunning nautical art. Each bedroom offers Elemis bathroom amenities, walk-in rainforest showers, Lavazza coffee machines, Robert radios, a mini fridge and a selection of local treats to eat and drink, including a jar of homemade cookies.

Visitors arriving at St Michaels are welcomed by a new entrance leading to the heart of the resort. Stepping inside through an oak ‘hull,’ they arrive into a relaxed social space with sofas, a cosy fireplace and a library of complimentary resources, maps and materials to dip into. Hosts are on hand to offer resort support as well as providing tips and recommendations to make the most of the surrounding area, from costal waking routes to Falmouth hot-spots.
The resort has also unveiled two new restaurants – Brasserie on the Bay and the Garden Kitchen. Brasserie on the Bay serves fresh fish and seafood catches from the Cornish Coast with an emphasis on seasonal and local ingredients. The Garden Kitchen is a relaxed and informal restaurant with a tempting menu of healthy salads, deli dishes and stone-baked pizzas, as well as a juice and smoothie bar. The Garden Kitchen’s terrace, with its sweeping views over Gyllyngvase beach, is the perfect spot, from coffee through to cocktails. The refurbishment has also seen the introduction of a new private meeting and dining area – the Wine Vaults.

Chairman Nigel Carpenter said: “Following this extensive refurbishment, St Michaels is a new destination for the south west, set on one of the most beautiful pieces of England’s coastline and on the edges of a bustling community. St Michaels is a luxury resort with unequalled spa, health and fitness facilities and is testament to the fact that the British seaside has grown up. We are Cornish, we are cool and we are here!”

Premier Hospitality also spoke to Dean Pascoe from P Chapman Construction and Designer Chloe Adcock about the project.

St Michaels

Tell us a bit about the work undertaken on this project.

Dean (P Chapman Construction): “Originally when I commenced at St Michaels Hotel, there was The Croft Hotel, which is the hotel adjacent to St Michaels. With that we did a full renovation of the remaining building and converted an existing function room into a 500sqm gym. We also refurbished the existing swimming pool, converted existing Jacuzzi rooms into changing rooms, demolished a single storey extension and replaced it with a 20 bed timber frame extension and renovated the existing 15 bedrooms.

“At St Michaels we constructed a new arrival lounge to the hotel consisting of a new reception and lounge; installed a lift to the existing hotel and converted the old cellar into a meeting room with toilets. There was also refurbishment work on the ground floor of the hotel which included reconfiguring the kitchen and refurbishing the existing function room, including a new balcony. The existing gym was fully transformed into a spa, treatment rooms and the existing swimming pool was converted into a hydrotherapy pool. The existing, external terrace to the ground floor was then fully enclosed with a new structure, forming a Bistro restaurant.”

 

What are some of the design highlights in the space?

Chloe: “The Arrival Lounge is a new concept for the hotel and is about how we introduce guests to the hotel so rather than having a typical reception desk, it is a more interactive space. The check-in process is done with a member of staff using an iPad so you don’t have to stand and queue at a check-in desk. The idea is that there will always be someone to greet you, offer you a drink and check you in so it is a much more relaxed approach to the whole arrival and check-in process.

“The restaurant has had a facelift with some nice new touches, continuing the nautical theme. We have a divider between our banquette seating which is a rope structure that zig zags between the seating and the ceiling.

“The concept for the spa was bright and natural in the public areas contrasted with dark and luxurious finishes on the journey through to the private treatment rooms. The theme for the spa was natural timbers and coppers so we have a large copper sign directing you to the spa with little copper elements dotted throughout the space. The reception desk is clad in iridescent mother of pearl mosaic tiles so there are also little hints back to the sea.

“At the end of the pool there is a feature wall of reclaimed timber with copper tinted mirrors and lots of candles giving off a lovely ambiance. The wallpaper in the corridor of the treatment rooms is a textured, metallic dark brown which instantly gives that change of mood. The Mud Room has a Moroccan feel to it with mosaic tiles in beautiful rust red colours and geometric motifs in earthy colours. The Deep Relax Room has a navy blue glitter finish on the ceiling so you go in after a treatment to relax and it is softly lit with what looks like a starry sky above you and a soft deep pile carpet under your feet.”

 

Were there any difficulties or challenges with the project?

DP: “Working within the grounds of a live hotel has definitely been the most challenging aspect but when we undertook the external works and refurbishment works to St Michaels that is when it became more challenging, ensuring to meet the client’s needs while minimising disruption to the hotels customers. There was a substantial amount of work to do and while working on the existing buildings it made the work much more complex. We were uncovering works that had been done previously that were substandard so there was a lot of re-design and additional works to be carried out.”

 

What has the feedback been like since the hotel reopened?

CA: “We have had a lot of people approaching staff to ask if they can find out where finishes like the wallpaper or the lights came from because they like them so much that they to want to use them in their home, which is nice to hear. We have had a lot of positive feedback with people being very complimentary about the space.”

 

How important has this project been for you both to be involved with?

DP: “On a personal level the project was a learning curve for me because it’s not the typical project I’m involved in, however, I’m glad it’s a project I can say I played a part in. For P. Chapman Construction, this project has proved the versatility of the company and the finish product shows what a great team we have.

“On behalf of PCC, we feel the project has been a success, and it’s a project we’re proud to have been given the opportunity to be involved in.”

CA: “For me, as a newcomer to Cornwall who was finding her feet, there were two aspects to this project. Career wise, beforehand I was an Associate at an architects practice and that role was more hands off. Most of the correspondence was done via email or phone with site visits happening very sporadically. However with this project, I have been based on site, making daily decisions and have built up a fantastic relationship with all parties involved. To be that hands on and to watch something develop day-to-day has been amazing.

“Personally, I quickly settled into the friendly St Michaels family and having the enjoyment of handing the project over and watching colleagues see the completed site and work in the new spaces has also been very satisfying.”

St Michaels

CAW (Cornwall) Limited

CAW (Cornwall) Limited specialise in the production, supply and installation of aluminium and PVCu products, including windows, doors, conservatories and all associated variant bases. The company has been in operation for 44 years and within this time has provided services to various companies and organisations, from building contractors, local authorities and schools to hotels, restaurants, clubhouses, hospitals and the residential sector.

Most recently, CAW (Cornwall) Limited has been involved with the work on St. Michael’s Hotel & Spa. Working on this project, the company has been involved with the production and installation of windows and doors.

Gary Pascoe, CAW (Cornwall) Limited, said:

“This project gave us the opportunity to work alongside high-grade contractors to provide this development with the envisaged products it truly deserves. This site will stand the test of time.”

Gary added:

“At CAW (Cornwall) Limited we pride ourselves on our high-quality bespoke local products that are more than capable of withstanding the Cornish weather. In addition, we provide the best possible customer service.”

 

GBN Primo

GBN Primo have 40 years of experience as specialists in furniture for the restaurant and hospitality sector – supplying from their meticulously selected collections, designing stand-out bespoke furniture to fit the dimensions and style of any establishment and utilising their in-house interior design team in order to help clients create amazing destination venues.

As a highly respected UK-based contract restaurant furniture business, GBN Primo pride themselves on their meticulous attention to detail, the incredible creativity of their design and manufacturing team  and the commercial focus on improving venue capacity and profitability they bring to the table.

The company’s diverse customer base includes Thai restaurants, shopping centres and safari parks to name but a few and their most recently completed project was for St Michaels Hotel & Spa. Here they supplied furniture for the hotel’s meeting space called the Wine Vault (furniture which GBN Primo modified in order to achieve their client’s usage and storage requirements) and luxurious armchair seating for the hotel’s outdoor terrace to meet the hotel’s exacting specifications.

Speaking to us about this project, Bobby Patel, GBN Primo Managing Director said: “We do love a challenge and our work with St Michaels Hotel & Spa provided us with an opportunity to show what can be done even with a tight schedule. I’m very proud of the end result and the reaction it has already received and we look forward to working with St Michaels Hotel & Spa again in the future.”

St Michaels

hortus design & landscaping

hortus design & landscaping is a bespoke landscape garden design consultancy and construction specialist based in St. Ives, Cornwall. The company has been in operation for 12 years and within this time has worked on a range of projects across the country, from grand garden designs on Lake Windermere to exclusive penthouse roof gardens in London.

Recently, hortus was involved with the work at St. Michael’s Hotel & Spa. The company was brought on board the project at a design and consultancy level as well as the soft landscaping elements of the scheme.

Chris Eager, hortus design & landscaping, said:

“It was great to be involved in this project. Nigel & the team involved were all very passionate and enthusiastic, and this is something that reflected the hortus ethos.”

Chris added:

“At hortus design & landscaping we work with both clients and contractors to ensure our projects run as smoothly as possible and keep to budget, regardless of project and budget size.

“We pride ourselves on our attention to detail, our reliability and our professionalism. We feel very fortunate to be able to say that we enjoy our work and I believe this reflects in our attitude to every project & the end product that is produced.”

 

R O’Mara Painting & Decorating Ltd

Established in 1991, R O’Mara Painting & Decorating Ltd specialise in the delivery of all aspects of commercial, interior and exterior decoration works to hotels, restaurants, education authorities and bespoke builds. Based in Newquay, Cornwall the company has amassed a large portfolio over the past 27 years, with projects including the Una Holiday complex, spa and swimming pool at Carbiss Bay; Nare Hotel restaurant in Veryan; Fistral Bay Hotel and Spa in Newquay; and Tremough University Campus in Falmouth.

The company has recently finished works at the St Michael’s Hotel and Spa, Falmouth. Working on this project, R O’Mara Painting & Decorating Ltd was responsible for the complete decoration of the newly built swimming pool, therapy rooms, spa and pizza restaurant.

Project manager, Rob O’Mara, said:

“It has been a pleasure to work on this prestigious project. At times challenging but good communication skills, flexible working and organisation have allowed us to complete this upgrade.”

Rob added:

“Team work was the key, made smoother and more rewarding by working alongside other trades people, who have the same high standards and work ethic as us. We wish every success to The St Michael’s Hotel, Falmouth.”

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