When the Midland Hotel was first built it was unashamedly contemporary, and we wanted to take the same approach, not forgetting of course that every design decision we made would need to embody empathy and aspiration in equal measure; the hotel was a symbol of renaissance for Morecambe but as a seaside icon tens of thousands of people were genuinely attached to it.

Our sensitive approach, which saw us work alongside architects Union North and Avanti, was to restore many of the original Art Deco features and add contemporary interventions and design solutions.

Influential 20th century sculptor Eric Gill produced several works of art for the hotel when it was first opened - we restored these; from the famous seahorses on the facade, to the Portland stone relief of Odysseus and Nausicaa which was returned to its original position in the lobby.

A decade on and it’s great to see the hotel still so revered. I’m proud that we helped Morecambe’s modernist masterpiece regain its rightful place as the crowning glory on the North West coast.

I’m only sad we were not asked to continue our work and carry on regenerating the rest of Morecambe.