High asbestos levels puts £100m Savoy refurb behind schedule

The £100m refurbishment of London's Savoy Hotel is running at least four months behind schedule after the historic building was found to be riddled with asbestos.

Specialist asbestos contractor Caswell was awarded a £3.2m contract in December 2007 which was due to finish last November.

But Caswell still has a team on site after higher levels of asbestos than expected were discovered.

Part of Caswell's contract was to train around 580 workers in how to deal with asbestos.

Chorus is main contractor on the job which was scheduled to finish in May but has now been delayed until the Autumn.

CJ understands that all the asbestos has now been removed but the complex operation has had a knock-on effect on the rest of the contract.

A spokeswoman for owner Fairmont Hotels said: "The first phase of the partial re-opening of The Savoy - with 160 rooms, The Front Hall, The Savoy Grill and the American Bar - is scheduled for Summer 2009 and the entire hotel renovation will conclude in the Autumn."

One worker on the site said: "We are being told that the job is due to finish this Autumn but there is a lot of work still to be done."

Any delay to the opening could prove very costly to the owners.

The fully refurbished hotel will contain 268 rooms and suites with the cheapest room costing £350 per night.

That would see Fairmont losing £650,000 in room revenue alone for every week the Savoy misses its original opening deadline.

One industry expert said: "When something like this happens and revenue is lost there is usually a legal case."

Work involves installing 19 new lifts alongside the refurbishment of all guestrooms and construction of a new 16-room Royal Suite.

Chorus is also overseeing the installation of a new services infrastructure and the structural stabilisation of the listed front façade.

Chorus declined to comment on the delays.

Chorus said at the time of its contract award in December 2007: "The Savoy will be closed for the initial year of the refurbishment although refurbishment works will continue into 2009."