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Lambro Contracts
One of the most testing environments for interior contractors to work within is the modern casino. They demand a mix of elegance and high tech to suit today’s casino operators’ and owners’ needs and that is a blend which specialist interiors company Lambro Contracts now has a reputation for getting just right.
It has achieved for Lambro Contracts a growing prominence when interiors specialists’ names are collated for invitations to tender for casino work. If there is one area of their business that casino owners and operators cannot gamble upon – it is interiors. Atmosphere and ambience are an integral part of the “casino experience” and have to be just right for the discerning punter and their guests. This is where using Lambro Contracts is like playing a winning ace in a high-stakes game.
The latest example of the Essex-based company’s expertise has just opened to excellent reviews in London. When the first roulette wheels began to spin and the dice were thrown in July at the new Ladbrokes Paddington Casino, it was yet another example of Lambro Contracts completing a prestige casino contract on-time and to the ultimate satisfaction of the client.
It was further evidence of the reputation for excellent work that Lambro Contracts is winning throughout the gaming industry.
The newly-opened Ladbrokes Paddington Casino was a five-month contract in Praed Street, a busy part of London close to Paddington rail station. It is located in a formerly unused basement and executive lounge within the Hilton Hotel.
The 1300m2 of basement was stripped completely back to a skeleton before the construction could begin. During this part of the operation the original roof vaulting was exposed and renovated.
A new staircase constructed by Lambro Contracts in its workshops was transported to Paddington in pieces and put together in situ. A lift was also installed while a complex electrical system was put in to take account of the specific needs a casino has for air conditioning, security and advanced communications. Included in the Paddington project were a reception area, three bars plus staff areas.
The Lambro Contracts’ team embodies a wealth of diverse talents which, unusually in the construction industry, are to be found under the same roof. They work together to achieve high quality results and, most importantly, bring them in on time. The Lambro team ranges from electricians and project planners through to the skilled craftsmen who can work in a variety of materials.
Lambro’s is a 23-year success story of delivering high-quality shopfitting and specialist interiors from its purpose-built headquarters at Wickford in Essex but it is only relatively recently that the company’s overall talents have been recognised by the gaming industry.
Those skills and expertise have been honed in the hotel industry where again the quality of work on initially-small contracts began to see Lambro Contracts recognised by, among many others, the Hilton company, and put them ahead of competitors. As a result Lambro Contracts has been used by a number of top-name hotels and upscale developers for specialist fit-outs of interiors of shops, suites and apartments.
Another recent success in the gaming industry has been the prestigious Fifty casino in London where Lambro Contracts built a champagne bar, restaurant and nightclub. It had all the ingredients that the Lambro Contracts management and craftspeople relish. It was complex, challenging and also demanded a high-quality finish within extremely tight time constraints.
Working to a high-specification design brief Lambro Contracts, apart from constructing the interiors of the main public areas, also had to refurbish an existing kitchen and create another equipped to the express wishes of a top chef.
Intricate features, ornate plasterwork and state-ofthe- art materials were all part of a brief with a short 16-week construction schedule. An added demand was that the casino would continue to operate during the refurbishment.
The project at 50 St James in London, a casino and gentlemen’s club which had been established for many years in a historic property, was to create Fifty (www.fiftylondon.com), a prestigious new concept for an entertainment venue which included a nightclub, a lounge and restaurants appealing to a discerning clientele. Lambro’s work was highly praised as a true testament to Fifty’s historic and prestige location in St James.
Project manager David Seton enthused: “We are very happy with Lambro Contract’s work. They always produce what they say they will produce and have always done what they said they would do – and on time. “Unlike a building site, Lambro Contracts was working in a casino which was operational. This is a situation which could have caused delays but Lambro Contracts was extremely flexible, working around restricted hours.”
The client was London Clubs International and the work was to create a prestigious nightclub and restaurant alongside the casino with an ingredient which Lambro Contracts thrives upon – an extremely high-quality finish.
The casino, which is situated in a listed building, had to maintain its operations uninterrupted during the construction period so Lambro Contracts drew up a very strict work plan to be adhered to by its teams.
The interior for the joint-venture project between London Clubs and Planet Hollywood’s Robert Earl was designed by US company Jeffrey Beers International, a consultancy with a reputation for its successful use of unusual materials.
Because of daily time restrictions Lambro Contracts had to plan its work programme in the finest detail for the 16 weeks. Work continued seven days a week but working days started at 6am. The Lambro teams only had sole access to the construction area until 1pm when cleaning and clearing up had to take place in readiness for the casino’s opening time.
Also, to interpret successfully the design company’s vision, Lambro had to source and install such materials as hand-painted wallpapers, coloured mirrors and an illuminated dance floor.
Lambro is renowned for delivering the highest quality shopfitting and specialist interiors to time and cost restraints. Lambro Contracts’ Managing Director Jeff Brown said: “Our consistency and reliability comes from the company culture of attention to detail promoted right from our Directors who are actively involved in all aspects of the business.”
Lambro Contracts is based at Hurricane Way at Wickford in Essex, handily placed for the M25 and M11 motorways which can speed its teams to contracts, not only in London, but also elsewhere in the UK. The Wickford headquarters is the working home to Lambro’s Directors, planners, administration and workshops. In addition to the specialist skills such as veneering and polishing found in the joinery workshop many within the Lambro team are highly experienced in estimating, setting out and materials purchasing.
Other expertise covered in-house is health and safety aspects, risk management, recycling and environmental procedures and the responsible handling and disposal of hazardous materials.
Lambro’s workshops have the latest in equipment and facilities which are key to the high levels of client satisfaction both on service and cost. Clients and visitors are always welcome to visit Lambro’s headquarters to experience how efficiency and productivity contribute to keeping prices competitive.
Lambro’s reputation has grown for delivering highquality shopfitting and specialist interiors to time and cost restraints. The company has a culture of consistency and reliability and the result is a very high level of customer satisfaction, dependability and flexibility.
Keith Shirley, the company’s Business Development Manager, said: “Clients keep on coming back because they know they can depend on us. Much of our growth has come through recommendation. “Added value comes from understanding clients’ diverse needs whether we are involved on direct contracts or delivering our services through a main contractor. “The whole process is always tightly controlled and monitored. We keep clients continually informed of the project’s progress. There are occasions when the project varies and we have systems with the flexibility to respond quickly to such changes.”
There are always tests for the Lambro team members; challenges for the project planners, the onsite work teams and the craftsmen back in Wickford. They have all proved surmountable. The challenges for the Lambro Contracts craftsmen can be historic or ultra modern. Designers put them to the test by using an ever-widening range of materials, some of them completely new.
By contrast, in the case of the structural work at Fifty some of the original cornices and ornate plasterwork were damaged in the stripping out process or because they were in the way of an installation. Lambro’s craftsmen reconstructed them from specially made moulds before expertly applying the intricate gold leaf work. The new work could not be distinguished from the originals.
The skilled team also produced the decorative columns which concealed power cables and pipework that could not be accommodated above ceilings or below floors. Also at Fifty, seating for the nightclub with special feature lighting was also made at Lambro.
The front bar at Fifty – 9.5 metres long by 4.5 metres high – comprises illuminated onyx, granite and mahogany and it was built in sections by specialists at Lambro’s factory, then assembled on site.
The materials buyers also come into their own at Lambro with their knowledge of where to source leather, veneered and solid woods such as mahogany, stainless steel, laminates and coloured glass, even integral fridges and freezers and point of sale equipment such as tills.
Keith Shirley adds: “We are able to work so successfully because we have complete control over our part of the contracts. We have the skills to carry out the physical work – the demolition, the electrics, the heating – and the ability and contacts to source some very unusual materials.
“It is one thing sourcing them but we also have to have the adaptable skills to work with these materials and transform them into the concept that the project designers and architects envisaged them as. “We work with special wallcoverings, even hand made, and one of the more unusual was wallpaper with glass beads embedded into it. There are new materials and laminates coming along all the time and we have to stay ahead of the game in knowing how to work with them.
“There are always new trends and designers are not slow to pick up on them and utilise them in their next contract; we have to stay ahead of that, too. A current one, for example, is polished plaster on walls but, again, we have the people with the skills.
“Some of the strangest items we have had to source and install on projects have been a 10-metre twisted brass ‘ribbon’ which hangs from the ceiling. Weighing in at approximately one tonne, this massive ‘ribbon’ had to be manufactured in Italy and installed in Windows restaurant at the Hilton Park Lane.”
Lambro specialises in working in difficult situations and conditions as proved in the success of the Paddington casino and Fifty. The operations of the Hilton Hotel in Praed Street had to continue uninterrupted while the basement below it was transformed. Similarly with the Fifty project, casino operations had to go on with clients unaware of any disruption within the building.
As most casinos, by their very nature, need to be in city centre locations parking and loading/unloading restrictions have their effect on deliveries and the taking away and locating of such essential items as waste skips.
As a result the logistics for materials in and out have to be spot on. Recent challenges have been getting spoil from, and new materials to, the 28th floor of a top hotel in London’s Park Lane and carrying out a complete rebuild of a restaurant without the guests being affected – or even knowing.
Or gearing the work on a new Hugo Boss clothing store in Liverpool when night deliveries were the only way of getting materials in.
Lambro’s MD Jeff Brown summed up the ethic: “We are used to handling any challenges and restrictions but the main thing is that we have developed a reputation for a very high standard of work in casinos, hotels, upmarket shops and private apartments.”
Lambro Contracts
T: +44 (0)1268 764612
