The Ivy Restaurant and Club in London’s West End
1st December 2010
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RBC was part of the team that completed the remodelling of The Ivy in London’s West End to include a private members club, The Club at The Ivy. Due to RBC’s expertise and collaboration with the owners, Caprice Holdings, one of the restaurant’s prominent artworks remains intact.
PROJECT DETAILS
The Ivy is one London's favourite restaurants, a uniquely British institution known throughout the world for its clientele of rich and famous. The project to sensitively refurbish the interior of the unique building and to create The Club at The Ivy was led by the world renowned Architects Martin Brudnizki Design Studio.
The Club was designed to provide elegant surroundings and an atmosphere of discretion. Situated above The Ivy Restaurant it consists of three individual floors designed to offer members a stylish retreat within the sophisticated and sedate ambience of rooms such as The Library and Club Room.
“We have a good relationship with RBC and their expertise and close collaboration is of great value to us.”
Andy Kress, Operations Director for Caprice Holdings
KEY ISSUE
The Ivy contains a specially commissioned art glazing, which separates the restaurant from the building’s beautiful oak staircase. The staircase forms a strategic part of the fire exit plan for the restaurant and club in case of emergency.
At the time, it was not known if the priceless artwork partition was adequately fire resistant and this meant The Ivy would fail to meet fire regulations if the issue was not addressed.
Initially RBC discussed the possibility of upgrading the glazing to meet a 30-minute fire rating but another option needed to be found in order to preserve the precious art installation.
OUR SOLUTION
To preserve The Ivy’s unique artwork, RBC investigated the history of the building in collaboration with the owners, Caprice Holdings, and found an alternative solution. The team discovered that the partition was constructed as part of The Ivy’s redesign in 1992 and the artwork was commissioned by renowned artist Tom Phillips.
He designed the partition using a glazing system called Copperlite or Cupro-Lux fire screens. RBC found that, with only minor modification to the timber surrounds, the partition would meet fire regulations and after liaising with the fire authority was able to accept the artwork glazing without costly modifications.
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