Blair Associates Architecture Ltd were commissioned by the Goring to create a new penthouse floor at the Goring. Although not listed due to the amount of alterations to the building over its life, the Goring is nevertheless a building that is within the tradition of the Edwardian classic style. Although the roof was complete in architectural design composition with tall chimney stacks as bookends to the sloped roof, the roof had been altered, elements of plant and air-conditioning units. Blair Associates Architecture Ltd’s design created a brand new storey facing the unique gardens of the Goring. The primary elevation was finished almost entirely in glass, set in slim and elegant timber frames fitting neatly between the two expressive vertical chimney stacks creating the volume for the Royal Suite. The roof extension included new balconies, the proportions and subdivisions of the fenestration works well with the overall Edwardian classical façade composition. A roof storey provides a cohesive composition, reinforcing the classic symmetry of the elevation. Working with Russell Sage Studio on a much sought after one bedroom suite provided Meghan Markle’s pre-wedding facilities as the first guest, making this a true Royal Suite. The accommodation comprises a bedroom with an en-suite bathroom including a double shower, guest cloakroom, sitting room and dining room facilities.

The Siren Restaurant Extension

As part of Blair Associates Architecture Ltd’s continued relationship with the Goring Hotel, the practice was commissioned to create a new restaurant for the Hotel to be operated by Nathan Outlaw, known as ‘The Siren’. Blair Associates Architecture Ltd designed the new extension, the garden facing elevation of the Hotel. The Hotel is two storey, the basement extension creating a new kitchen dedicated to the restaurant with a timber and glass upper storey extending the ground floor reception bar. The design concept was to create a feeling of openness, almost like an orangery, to allow the façade to open out on beautiful sunny days where the restaurant would become part of the country style garden (the extraordinary unique feature of the Goring). The new composition of the restaurant, basement and ground floor symmetrically together with the Royal Suite extension at roof level anchors the rear elevation firmly as a symmetrical, elegant addition to the Hotel - making sense of the previously random nature of the historic extensions. Numerous articles were published on the new extension and to quote an article from the Guardian, “London’s grand Goring Hotel has taken a less stuffy turn with the arrival of a Nathan Outlaw fish restaurant, complete with a menu that’s more than a match for the majestic setting. The Goring Hotel, near Buckingham Palace, has plodded on majestically for the past 109 years without doing anything as gauche as touting a new restaurant. The new building, known as the Siren is an open-fronted space, on dry days at least, that gazes out on a quintessential British country-house lawn. The room is filled with beautiful, green, leafy-cushioned chairs, with notes of terracotta, rich browns and ermine blues. Glass lobsters loom from the ceiling while matching sea anenomes perch on the tables. An excellent addition to this fine hotel”.