Now that we have established what bbf are trying to achieve, the next question is what is involved in the renovation?

Firstly, walls had to be strengthened or replaced. The wall you see in this picture had to be built from scratch.

This is what it used to look like!

As well as building walls from scratch, they have been very busy improving the existing structure. First they had to clean the stones internally and externally. If you recall, the building was literally covered in graffiti. During cleaning, all the joints were cleaned up to 7cm deep. Tubes were then installed through which they injected repair material to ensure the walls were properly bonded and structurally safe. In this shot you can see a couple of the tubes which have yet to be removed. The walls of the hotel are now finished. They have been repaired, restored and given treatment against rain water. Once they get planning approval, they will continue with plastering, painting and decorating.

The renovation team have also had to address certain building practices that were not up to scratch. The slabs here were not originally made from proper concrete. Instead they consisted of steel, bricks and just a thin layer of concrete on top. These have obviously had to be replaced.

Another issue was foundations. The hotel was originally built without any, it simply rested on top of bedrock. Modern hotels require proper foundations, so bbf are having to expose all this and make a concrete encasement. They want to make the building safe for another 100 years at least!

Though the walls have all been strengthened there are still props like you can see here. In November all the lintels and coping beams will be repaired.