The company behind London's Athenaeum hotel is set to open its conversion of a former manor house into a luxury hotel in Hertfordshire next July.
Ralph Trustees, which also owns the Runnymede Hotel and Spa in Egham, Surrey, is aiming for five-star accreditation at the Grove in Rickmansworth.
However, the three-year project to renovate the Elizabethan house has not been without its complications. A host of historians and wildlife experts have been working on the site because of its history and the wildlife living in the 300 acres of parkland.
"We've had a whole range of major issues," said managing director Michael O'Dwyer.
These have included the unearthing of two Roman-period skeletons and a number of bronze artefacts. The grounds were also home to a number of endangered animal species including badgers, bats and snakes, which had to be moved by experts to make way for an 18-hole golf course.
"It has been the most fascinating three years of my career and so different to anything I've done before," added O'Dwyer, who is in the process of recruiting about 250 staff.
The hotel will have 227 bedrooms, three restaurants, and conference and banqueting facilities for as many as 500 people.
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 19 - 25 December 2002