Hotels

Concrete hotel construction o ers many advantages over other methods of construction.

There is often the need to construct a hotel quickly, so speed of construction and tight
construction programmes are primary considerations in their design. The bedroom areas of
hotels can be considered as cellular structures in that the walls can be structural elements.

Tunnel form, crosswall and twinwall all o er signi cant advantages including systemised
construction, minimal need for in ll panels, less requirement for follow-on trades due to high
quality wall nishes and cost-savings due to repetition of the elements.

Concrete bene ts

Acoustic performance

To ensure the occupiers’ comfort, a major criterion in hotel bedroom design is minimum noise
transmission between rooms. Concrete’s inherent acoustic performance provides excellent
sound insulation.

Fire resistance

Concrete is proven to have a high degree of re resistance and, in the majority of applications,
can be described as virtually reproof. This excellent performance is due in the main to
concrete’s constituent materials (cement and aggregates) which, when chemically combined
within concrete, form a material that is essentially inert and, importantly for re safety design,
has relatively poor thermal conductivity. It is this slow rate of conductivity (heat transfer) that
enables concrete to act as an e ective re shield not only between adjacent spaces, but also to
protect itself from re damage.

Thermal mass

Concrete is a material with high thermal mass and buildings with thermal mass respond
naturally to changing weather conditions, helping stabilise the internal temperature and provide
a largely self-regulating environment. Buildings such as hotels which do have comfort cooling
systems, can work together very e ciently to provide comfortable internal conditions,
particularly during warm weather.

Durability

Hotels built from concrete are robust, durable structures and can easily meet the requirements
for design against disproportionate collapse with appropriate reinforcement detailing.

Concrete solutions

Advice on the options for hotel construction in concrete can be found in The Concrete Centre
publication Residential Cellular Concrete Buildings.

Tunnel form

Tunnel form construction is a system which uses formwork to create both the wall and slab
together. It is based upon a 24-hour cycle and therefore has a high turn-around time.

Crosswall

Crosswall construction employs factory precast concrete components which are custom
designed and manufactured to suit the individual project. Floor slabs are either hollowcore
panels or solid widespan units.

Twinwall

Twinwall construction is a combination of precast and in-situ concrete construction. It uses the
twinwall panel as permanent shuttering into which ready-mixed concrete is placed. The oor
slab is generally a lattice girder panel and again, is a combination of precast and in-situ concrete.