Raising the roof – countdown to opening

MD Jane Schofield gets the job done

Sixteen weeks to go until opening and Hotel La Tour MD Jane Schofield performs the official “topping out” ceremony at our Birmingham site.

It’s a big day for us as we celebrate an important construction milestone. Much of the outer shell is now finished, all our 174 bedrooms, suites and luxury bathrooms are installed, and work is underway to fix the limestone and black granite cladding which will give the hotel its distinctive exterior finish. Glazing of the double height reception is also in and next month the staircase to our executive business floor will be completed and the 54m tower crane, which has dominated the Birmingham city centre skyline will be dismantled. Here are our vital statistics:1,642 applications received so far for 100 jobs1,000 people have worked on the site putting in more than 300,000 hours over 312 days16,000 tonnes of concrete have been poured30,000 lifts have been made by our twin tower cranes500,000m of electrical/data cabling have been laidPictured with Jane are Craig Benham, Project Manager for main contractors Galliford Try and Works Manager Bill Taylor, enjoying a well-earned cuppa – two of an estimated 125,003 which have been brewed on site so far.