Sir Robert McAlpine is due to start permanent remediation of cladding at a Surrey hotel it has repeatedly repaired since 2021.
Loose cladding on the Hilton Hotel and Conference Centre in Woking has caused closures of the town centre’s A320 Victoria Way several times, including for four months last year.
Woking Borough Council has announced that the contractor will spend six months securing the building’s facade, and that McAlpine will cover the costs of the work.
The permanent fix involves installing over 14,000 revised fixings to the exterior rainscreen panels that form the building’s gold and yellow facade, using suspended access cradles and mobile access platforms, according to a council statement.
Road closures for vechicles will be introduced in the vicinity for around three months of the programme, with a protective tunnel installed nearby for pedestrians.
The hotel will remain open during the works.
Woking Council leader Ann-Marie Barker said in a statement: “It’s a relief that these works are finally being done. The temporary fix has worked but it will be good to know we have a lasting resolution.”
Panels first dislodged from the 23-storey building in October 2021 while it was under construction.
Eight weeks later, McAlpine said around 2,000 of the building’s 4,000 external panels needed extra fixings and that the work would be completed by January 2022. It said at the time that permanent remediation of the cladding was “under review”.
In July 2023 it was announced cladding replacement works would be completed by subcontractor Prater by summer 2024.
Barker described this at the time as an “unacceptably long delay”.
The hotel opened in autumn 2024, but in November 2024, high winds caused a “small amount of visible movement” to a panel, causing a temporary closure of Victoria Way, though the facility remained open.
Storm Darragh was blamed for damaging a number of exterior rainscreen panels the following month, with Victoria Way once again closed while work was carried out.
The road reopened on 15 January but had to close again 11 days later and remained shut until 25 April.
Last year, local MP Will Forster called for the company to pay compensation to businesses and residents affected by the road closures.
The hotel was part of a wider development called Victoria Square, which was initially worth more than £670m and also includes 400 build-to-rent flats over two towers and 11,600 square metres of commercial space.
The client on the project was a joint venture between Woking Council and shopping centre owner and investor Moyallen Group called Victoria Square Woking. The project’s costs were a factor in the council issuing a section 114 notice in 2023, meaning it had to halt spending deemed to be “non-essential”
Sir Robert McAlpine has been contacted for comment.
