voco™ hotel, The Hague| The Netherlands

At the end of June 2021, the first voco™ hotel in the Netherlands opened. The building is located in the centre of The Hague on Kneuterdijk, surrounded by museums, shops, cultural monuments and the Peace Palace, a symbol of the city. The lifestyle hotel with 204 rooms combines typical Dutch design with a discrete, informal style. The venerable building was built in 1923 and was used as the headquarters of the bank ABN AMRO until 2017. The Rotterdam architects Eentien Architecten were entrusted with the transformation of the grand, historic bank building into a four-star hotel on behalf of the developers, UBM Development AG. The imposing, richly decorated façade was completely retained in the process. The management of the voco™ hotel in The Hague is in the hands of the well-respected InterContinental Hotels Group IHG.  

Converting a grand bank building into a lifestyle hotel is no easy task. In addition to this, a hotel is also only profitable if there are guests staying. As a result, all concerned including the tradespeople had an interest in the shortest possible conversion time. Steegman Installatietechniek B.V. from The Hague, with years of experience in the hotel sector, were responsible for the technical installations. The larger the hotel the more rooms there are, the more important it is to keep to a tight schedule. There is an advantage in this to have identical rooms repeated with regard to ground plan and equipment. To skilfully make use of these advantages, Steegman chose the pre-assembled, plug-in electrical installation system Plug+Go from JUNG, which was developed for exactly these situations. All 204 rooms can thus be equipped safely and quickly with the appropriate electrical installation.

Precisely because the electrical installation units were planned the same in all rooms – on one side of the bed two switches for the lighting and a charging socket for mobile devices with USB A and USB C connection, on the other side of the bed two switches and a socket – installation was possible in no time. Afterwards, various (charging) sockets, a connection for the television and naturally the indispensable key card holder followed. Compatible with the design of the rooms, the complete electrical installation was implemented using the A 550 design range from JUNG. All components were specially lacquered in the colour champagne. This colour shade is intended to give the hotel rooms an additional air of luxury. Something special about the colour is that it actually seems to adapt to the background and the lighting in the room. In dark surroundings, the switches and sockets appear warmer, in light surroundings cooler.

The key card holder was also implemented in the A 550 design and ensures automatic energy saving. When the guests enter the room, they switch on the electricity for the room by inserting the key card into the holder. Then they can switch all lights on and off as they wish. And in this way the lights go out when the guests leave the room. The installation by Steegman was carried out room by room and floor by floor. The tight schedule could be kept to also as a result of the Plug+Go units from JUNG supplied completely pre-assembled.

Alongside the luxury A 550 range in champagne for the rooms, in the public areas on the ground floor various versions of the aesthetically pleasing LS 990 range were used, which is matched to the interior design in each case. For example, the so-called “Botanica Kitchen, Bar & Lounge” offers a large range of colours and materials in its sockets and charging stations – such as the metal versions classic brass, antique brass and aluminium. The LS 990 in plastic in light grey is also used. In the hotel cocktail bar in the old vault of the bank, the classic brass switches from JUNG round off the dignified and maritime atmosphere of the “Ultramarine Wonderbar”.