Hospitality

Working with a wide range of hotel types, from complex multinational hotel chains to exclusive country house hotels, through every stage of the design process, we use the history of a building to help inform and enrich authentic, transformative experiences.

We bring historic spaces into contemporary use through adaptive reuse and thoughtful design, leveraging our outstanding built heritage expertise. Our in-house heritage consultancy, integrated design teams, and specialist hospitality design experience enable us to deliver projects that are not only aesthetically pleasing and operationally efficient, but emotionally resonant. 

Integrated, specialist expertise

From feasibility to completion, we collaborate closely with developers, operators, interior designers and the wider consultancy team to create places with purpose, where history enhances the storytelling integral to the guest experience. Our work goes beyond compliance and risk reduction: we mobilise heritage as an asset, revealing the authentic character of buildings, while meeting modern demands for sustainability, flexibility, and transformative guest experiences.   

With a proven track record across projects from world-famous hotel renovations to innovative boutique transformations, we help our clients shape destinations that feel authentic and enduring.

Heritage as an asset

Hospitality, at its very core, is about making people feel at home. In the world of hotel design, this is a multi-layered undertaking which, when successful, feels effortless. Working within a specialist heritage context, as Purcell does, brings a particular understanding of the role that character and storytelling play in the creation of experiential destinations, elevating the unique contribution that history and culture make in creating a sense of connection and comfort.

Purcell’s unique offer combines specialist hospitality design skills, experience in working with existing listed and unlisted, historic, and 20th century buildings, along with sector leading heritage consultancy, sustainability and social value expertise. We create new hospitality concepts that offer transformative experiences that speak to the world we live in now. This is allied with demonstrable technical expertise which gives our clients the confidence that we can both design and deliver the most complex and challenging of projects. 

Purcell’s growing international presence, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, has seen us reimagine heritage buildings for a wide spectrum of hospitality uses. Beyond our core expertise in hotels, we also design and deliver private members’ clubs, cafés, restaurants, and co-working environments that fuse historical identity with modern functionality.

In cities like Hong Kong, our work on members’ clubs exemplifies how we blend cultural sensitivity with design innovation to craft spaces that support connection, community, and comfort. Across all project types, we draw on global perspective and local knowledge to shape immersive experiences which are authentically connected to their surroundings.