Kingfisher Louvres - Hilton Garden Inn, Silverstone

The Hilton Garden Inn is on the Hamilton Straight at Silverstone, the home of British motor racing and venue for the British Grand Prix. It is a must visit for any motor racing fans in search of exhilarating views of the legendary starting grid and pit lane adjoining the racetrack.

This £30m hotel development has been a high-profile project for Kingfisher who worked closely with contractor Metclad to supply screening louvres for the ground floor area which housed the plant equipment.

The six-storey hotel has 197 rooms, some of which are track side with a balcony. There are hospitality suites, restaurants and private dining with track-facing terraces. The roof space has a large open-air sheltered roof terrace for spectators and a fitness suite. An atrium area on the top floor connects to a footbridge which spans the track leading to the Silverstone Wing Conference Centre.

The solution

This was a complex louvre project which took two and a half years from the initial tender and sampling stage through to the final supply of louvres. The louvres formed three parallelogram shapes on the ground floor of the hotel providing screening and ventilation to plant equipment whilst also being part of a design which reflected its inspiring ‘racetrack’ surroundings.

Kingfisher supplied 1800m of KW75Z single bank louvre blades, 170 mullions and 5 double door sets, all powder coated to RAL 7047 matt. The KW75Z louvre is the Kingfisher mid-range system which provides a good level of weather protection and ventilation with a 58% free area.

During the production process Kingfisher carefully labelled the components to assist with installation once the goods were delivered. Metclad did a fantastic job of the complex installation which involved cutting blades on site to suit the unique shape. They also used a number of “flying” mullions which capture the ends of cut blades ensuring that a high finish is achieved.

Josh Gardner, purchasing manager at Metclad commented “We have used Kingfisher for several years now and are constantly impressed with their quality of service and products.”