Mint Hotel

Buro Happold
  • Mint Hotel and Candle House
  • Mint Hotel from above
  • Mint Hotel restaurant
  • Mint Hotel room

1 / Introduction

The superb 4-star Mint Hotel is the centrepiece for a revitalised Granary Wharf development in Leeds city centre. By incorporating stylish, elegant yet cost-effective solutions, the solution satisfied the hotel’s need for maximum income-generating space in keeping with the Mint brand, while creating impressive open lobby and public areas.

Having worked with the Mint group on six hotels to date, the Mint Hotel in Leeds is arguably our best yet. Each hotel has been based on the needs of the last, but incrementally a little bit better, as we have been able to get to know the brand and its requirements intimately while adding innovations and improvements each time.

Key facts

  • 333 multi-media enabled bedrooms
  • 80% of floor space is lettable
  • 13 storey hotel

Related Disciplines

The Project Details

  • Client:
    Mint Hotel
  • Architect:
    Allies and Morrison
  • Buro Happold services:
    Structural engineering, geotechnical, flood risk, bridges & civil engineering, wind engineering
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2 / Challenge

Constrained by water on three sides, a railway line and residential buildings, location was a key challenge on this project – we needed to save as much space as possible. We were also asked to engineer a Sky Lounge on the top floor. While such open spaces are usually found on the ground floor of a building, the Mint Hotel in Leeds preferred to have them high above ground level.

With a hotel, space saving and effective utilisation is vitally important. The majority of this building is given over to lettable bedroom space, so all services and non-lettable areas would need to be used efficiently in order to maximise potential revenue.

3 / Solution

This 13-storey hotel has 333 multi-media and Wi-Fi enabled bedrooms – the maximum possible of this standard in the space – with a stunning brickwork façade, entrance pavilion and a ‘Sky Lounge’ on the top floor.

With 80% of the floor space dedicated to lettable bedroom space, our structural solutions have allowed the hotel to achieve ample room sizes while maximising revenue, while the Sky Lounge is a tribute to our flair for creative design.

To meet the needs of the Lounge on the top floor, we housed the services in the basement and on the level below the top floor. While services are traditionally found at the top of a building, this solution allowed the client the freedom to maximise the potential of the high value top floor. This has provided the Mint group with a flamboyant centrepiece as its crowning glory, as well as increased income potential. These spaces demonstrate our understanding of how every square metre represents possible income.

With the surrounding constraints of water, buildings and a railway line, the basement also contains the car park and back of house facilities, further saving space above ground for commercial use.

We also employed specialist acoustic and vibration-absorbing solutions to dampen the noise of passing trains in order to make the space a comfortable place to work and sleep in. This solution added to the guest experience as it enables Mint to offer a central hotel that is not disturbed by the busy streets outside.

4 / Value

We worked seamlessly with Mint throughout the Leeds project, delivering the hotel they wanted to brief, on time and on budget. Our creative solutions, combined with practical expertise, led the hotel to win a national RIBA award.

By maximising the room and front of house space inside the building and providing innovative solutions to the need for a Sky Lounge, we have provided a highly effective solution to generate maximum return on investment.