Overview

Just steps from St Paul's Cathedral, Creed Court is home to the Lost Property Hotel, part of the Hilton Curio Collection. The 145-room boutique hotel occupies a prominent corner site on Ludgate Hill, created through the redevelopment of a listed building as part of a wider regeneration scheme for the area.

In line with the London Plan and city sustainability policy, the development needed to deliver water efficiency measures and reduce pressure on local drainage infrastructure. SDS was asked to design a bespoke water reuse system capable of harvesting and recycling rainwater and grey water, while also supporting stormwater resilience through pre-emptive release.

The Challenge

The site's central London location, hemmed in by narrow one-way streets and neighbouring heritage assets, left very little room for new infrastructure. Any system had to deliver meaningful water savings and stormwater attenuation without eating into internal floor space or compromising the building's architectural integrity.

The hotel's sustainability commitments and city policy requirements called for more than a compact footprint. The system also needed to be intelligent, automatically adjusting storage tank levels in response to actual and forecast rainfall to avoid unnecessary overflow during storms.

The Solution

SDS delivered a dual-function system: a 36m³ GRP storage tank with integrated Intellistorm® controls, paired with a high-efficiency grey water recycling unit capable of treating up to 1m³ of water per hour. Grey water from showers and wash basins is filtered, treated and reused for non-potable applications such as toilet flushing, a major source of daily water demand in a busy hotel.

Intellistorm® adds active stormwater management on top of this, monitoring weather forecasts and triggering pre-emptive releases from the tank ahead of heavy rainfall. This preserves attenuation capacity and helps prevent peak discharges to the local sewer network at times of stress, while the compact size of both the tank and the recycling unit was key to fitting the system into such a constrained site.

Issues Overcome

Sitting directly opposite St Paul's Cathedral, the building offered no loading bay and only single-lane access. Every plant delivery had to be carefully timed and coordinated, with equipment broken down and craned into position to minimise disruption in one of London's busiest heritage zones.

The team also had to design around changing water demand patterns across hotel operations, ensuring consistent savings despite variations in occupancy and use. A final upgrade, including a new UF membrane to optimise grey water treatment, remains pending, though the core infrastructure is already in place and designed for full functionality once complete.

Results

The combined system gives the Lost Property Hotel a tailored solution for a high-density urban site with strict planning and space constraints. By enabling non-potable water reuse alongside intelligent stormwater control, the hotel is reducing its environmental footprint in line with the London Plan's long-term goals.

The project shows how smart infrastructure can unlock sustainability within historic, architecturally sensitive sites. SDS's integrated approach delivered strong environmental performance without compromising on design, heritage or operational efficiency, even in one of central London's most tightly constrained construction environments.

Testimonial

“Delivering water reuse and stormwater management in a heritage-constrained central London site was a real challenge. Our compact grey water recycling system, paired with a 36m³ Intellistorm®-controlled tank, maximises non-potable water reuse while intelligently managing stormwater. The Lost Property Hotel now achieves significant water savings and resilience, all without compromising the building’s design or operations.”

  • Sam Burgess, Water Reuse Manager, SDS