There’s a warm reception for visitors to the prestigious Kingsway Hall Hotel in London’s Covent Garden, thanks to the installation of a Dimplex ARC architectural air curtain that helps prevent draughts from the frequently opening doors.

With a history that dates back nearly 100 years as a sought after orchestral recording venue for stars including famous tenor Luciano Pavarotti, the recently refurbished 170 bedroom hotel in the heart of London is now popular with all types of leisure and business guests.

As a result its large entrance doorway, with automatic sliding doors, is in constant use.

The two-metre high doors open into the main reception and adjacent busy bar area, so draughts, particularly on cold days, were recognised as a particular problem requiring a specialist solution. General Manager, Laszlo Nyari says: “These doors are automatic and large, with lots of guests coming and going all the time which means that our lobby and bar area gets cold very quickly. We also had to think quite carefully about the aesthetics and general guest comfort because positive first impressions are vitally important in our business.”

Mr Nyari consulted John Kindell from the hotel’s electrical contractors, Sussex-based JWK Electrical, as part of his research to find the ideal product which needed to be high quality from a trusted brand name as well as looking as stylish as possible.

Specific requirements

“A stainless steel Dimplex ARC architectural air curtain was selected and installed over the doorway, to meet the exacting specifications,” added Mr Nyari.

“The ARC is modern looking and quite slimline so it looks good. We keep it on permanently at busy times because heat can escape very fast through the doors and we need to ensure guests are kept warm and comfortable at all times.”

The Dimplex ARC air curtains are capable of being linked with other units to operate over multiple doors and have fully integrated links to BMS/BEMS system for fully integrated control. There are horizontal and vertical models, all of which can be colour finished to customer requests.