Outline
Located on the corner of Pall Mall and Waterloo Place, ‘Wild Honey St James’ is the new restaurant at Sofitel London St James. Following a design transformation by Jim Hamilton Design, ‘Wild Honey St James’ replaces ‘The Balcon’ which opened in 2011 and the former ‘Brasserie Roux’ run by Albert Roux. Head chef Simon Woodrow is collaborating with Anthony Demetre on menus which continue the contemporary French cooking, with nods to the British Isle, for which Wild Honey became well known. CGA Integration have utilised the sound system they designed and installed at ‘The Balcon’ to create a quality audio system throughout the new restaurant.
Challenges
Although this project did not pose any particular challenges for CGA Integration, throughout, CGA were mindful that new products were chosen and installed to fully integrate with the design scheme created for ‘Wild Honey St James’. The refurbishment works left structural elements of the Balcon in place, making reuse of existing speakers desirable.
Technical
This project demonstrates the benefits of a well planned AV design; how taking the time to ‘get it right first time’ can save money in the long run as well as being more environmentally sound. Because of careful design and installation by CGA Integration eight years previously, 75 – 80% of the material used in the sound system at ‘The Balcon’, could be reused in ‘Wild Honey St James’. The AV system design and wiring was still in good working order, so it just required the bass bins to be relocated in the restaurant and the bar speakers to be changed to blend with the decor of the new surroundings. To further improve the existing sound, additional ceiling speakers were installed in the bar area and these were finished in a Ral colour to blend seamlessly with the interior design. As the private dining area now has the ability to be subdivided or operate as one larger space, CGA Integration also installed individual control panels and input points to enable this area to be operated as a whole or individually as two separate spaces if required.
