Moorings Hotel, Banavie

KDP had previously worked on the Moorings Hotel designing a new bedroom wing and extending the function suite some 15 years ago.

The hotel sits adjacent to the Listed and Ancient Monument “Neptune’s Staircase” on the Caledonian Canal at Banavie. The hotel had been extended over the years from house to guesthouse then to a hotel but it had always effectively turned its back on the canal.

Our clients wanted to extend the building so that the new public spaces related to the canal and the fantastic views of Ben Nevis beyond. There was previously no direct access to the hotel for the many tourists that visit “Neptune’s Staircase”.

We designed a new café bar/bistro that stretches out towards the canal towpath with a 7m wide deck area linking the café area direct to the towpath. Folding/sliding doors allows the café bar to spill out onto the deck allowing customers to view the boats navigating up and down the series of locks.

Upstairs we created 5 new bedrooms and extended an existing bedroom. Three of the bedrooms have feature balconies again facing towards the canal and Ben Nevis beyond. The balconies are cantilevered beyond the building line designed with reference to naval architecture with angled floor edges, balustrading and handrails. The larger balcony is supported on its outside corner by a “mast” column to reflect the naval architecture.

The main timber deck and stainless steel balustrading was chosen to reflect the many boats and yachts passing within a few metres of the hotel extension.