Member Article

Durham engineering company awarded UK wide hotels contract

Durham-based JH Partners has been awarded a contract to provide engineering services for the construction of seven hotels across the UK.

With offices on the Lambton Estate, Chester Le Street, the specialist mechanical and electrical engineers will be assisting award winning German company Motel One with its ambitious expansion plans. Regarded as the best budget design hotel chain in Germany, Motel One currently operates 49 hotels across Europe and has plans to open 20 more.

JH Partners initially helped the hotelier adapt its engineering specifications to ensure the new build hotels would comply with UK construction regulations. Having shown how effective their services were, Motel One then appointed the engineers to oversee the installation of all the mechanical and engineering facilities including automated heating, cooling and lighting systems at their 7 hotels currently under construction.

JH Partners has already completed work on three Motel One hotels, two in Edinburgh and one in London, and is currently finishing work on a fourth in Manchester. Over the next two years it will be assisting with three more in Newcastle, Glasgow and a second in Manchester.

Established in 2004, JH Partners employs 16 people and last year opened a second office in central London.

Craig Jordan, who started the business with partner Paul Haddon said: “Working with Motel One’s construction team has been a revelation; we can see why the brand is so successful in Germany and we’re sure it will be very popular here in the UK too.

“Their design concept very cannily combines style with cost efficiency; so with regard to the heating, ventilation and lighting systems we’ve worked very hard to make sure everything looks great whilst keeping running costs as lean as possible.”

JH Partners currently has 8 engineers working on the Motel One project, but fully expects this to grow. It has 3 new staff starting in the 6 weeks and plans to recruit a further 5 engineers by the end of the year.

Motel One’s Project Manager Michael Wiessler added: “The UK plays a very important part in our expansion plans and we really appreciate JH Partners’ experience and knowledge in the industry. The fact that we are based 1000 miles away in another country hasn’t been an issue at all. Whilst there are some significant differences to the way we build and fit out hotels in Germany, Craig and his team have made implementing our plans incredibly straightforward. Their attention to detail is exceptional – a lot like ours!”

JH Partners also provides mechanical and electrical engineering services to the University of Sunderland; Tyne, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust; British Airways, Harrods and De La Rue.

The innovative company recently teamed up with 9 North East companies to win the Build Newcastle Live, Open BIM Build award http://www.buildearthlive.com/newcastle

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lucy Carey .