The Grade I-listed Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa in Bath, UK, has finally relaunched after a heritage-led refurbishment of the Georgian building that dates back to the mid-1700s.

The privately-owned investment firm Topland Group acquired the two central buildings of the Royal Crescent – built between 1767 and 1774 – that make up the hotel and spa in 2012. Somerset-based interior design firm Jane Clayton and spa consultancy Spa Creators were appointed to carry out a complete refurbishment of the 45 bedrooms and suites and spa.

The Royal Crescent in Bath is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Alistair Johnson, managing director for Spa Creators, spoke to Spa Opportunities, to outline the extent of the work carried out in the building’s spa and gym.

“We re-engineered the entire reception and welcome space into a single lounge and reception,” said Johnson. “The hotel has a large private membership of roughly 500 guests, so we were tasked with enlarging the gym to support this demand.

“We had to reallocate some space to make this project work so we looked at reconfiguring the changing rooms for high-end hotel guests,” Johnson continued. “The changing facilities hadn’t been touched for about 15 years so they were very tired – we completely revamped them.”

The main pool hall received only minimal tweaks, but the spa was altered significantly to make it more operational. “There are seven treatment rooms at the hotel, which overlooked the pool hall with a balcony,” said Johnson. “We closed the space up because the rooms got hot and steamy above the pool. We put in a new wall with glazed arched windows instead. This has improved the operation completely.

“Within the treatment rooms, we equipped them with new furniture, new vanity treatments and we then rebranded the spa and relaunched it with ESPA products,” said Johnson. “The therapists were retrained by ESPA.”

The interior of each treatment room was refurbished and furniture was replaced

The spa closed in September 2013 for the refurbishment, which took five months. The spa has been operating ever since, having been relaunched specifically for members earlier this year, while the hotel refurbishment is also now complete.

Ciara Donegan of Jane Clayton said the challenge, with regard to the refurbishment of the interiors of the hotel, was to retain the traditional feel for guests, while updating and refreshing the rooms in a more contemporary manner. “The use of geometric, rather than floral fabrics, a brighter colour palette and less traditional soft furnishing styles helped to update the rooms,” said Donegan.

Johnson revealed that Topland plans to develop its spa business at The Menzies Hotel Group properties, the latest addition to the investment group’s hotel portfolio.

Topland also owns a collection of Hilton Hotels, Thistle Hotels, the North London Welcome Break, The Hallmark Hotel Group and The Menzies Hotel Group.

Spa Creators is working on a number of other projects across the UK, including the spa at The Genting Hotel at the NEC campus in Birmingham which is currently being built. Spa details to follow.