Premium Restaurant Refurbishment Delivered in Just Nine Days
Asha's Restaurant, Birmingham
Project Overview
Project: Restaurant refurbishment
Location: Birmingham
Sector: Hospitality
Areas: Main restaurant, private dining rooms and washrooms
Programme: 9 days (24/7)
Client Profile
Client Profile
This award-winning Birmingham restaurant is renowned for its fine dining and attracts visitors from across the UK, including many high-profile guests.
To maintain the premium experience customers expect, the restaurant embarked on a major refurbishment to modernise the space and elevate the overall finish.
The Challenge
After more than a decade without any significant refurbishment, closing the restaurant to carry out major works became unavoidable. To ensure lost trading days were kept to a minimum, completing the project quickly and efficiently was essential.
The project entailed the complete refurbishment of the main restaurant, bar, entrance area and private dining rooms. Additional works, including the ladies' washroom, were added once the project was underway.
Once the team began work, the building’s true condition became clearer. Damage from old leaks and damp meant that extensive remedial work was needed. Working in November brought its own challenges, with colder temperatures extending drying times for plaster and paint.
Despite the additional challenges, IL Solutions kept the project on track.
Services Delivered
- Strip-out and making good
- Plastering
- Painting and decorating
- Electrical works
- Carpentry and timber detailing
- Cladding and feature finishes
- Washroom refurbishment
- Project management
What We Did
Understanding the time pressure on hospitality businesses, IL Solutions developed a robust, tightly managed 24/7 programme.
With no room for delays, every stage of the programme was carefully sequenced to maintain efficiency and momentum. IL Solutions managed multiple trades, worked alongside a separate flooring contractor, and kept materials, sequencing and labour moving around the clock to avoid delays.
Electrical works, high-level working, fire-rated materials and other health and safety requirements were managed through formal RAMS with close oversight by IL Solutions’ compliance manager.
Main Restaurant
After stripping out all existing decor, extensive remedial work was carried out, including a full replaster, cladding, electrical alterations, painting and decorating and fine finishing.
Visible electrics around the bar were relocated and concealed, while decorative timber detailing and cladding were introduced to reshape the restaurant's overall feel. The team also extended the bar area and reworked a central feature seating area, creating a stronger focal point within the finished space.
Private Dining Rooms
These spaces required their own finishing works and decorative updates, including ceiling greenery and feature detailing to give them a more distinctive, premium feel for guests using them for events and private functions.
Ladies’ Washroom
This additional work included strip-out, new sanitaryware, flooring, worktops, mirrors, cladding and redecoration mirroring the look and feel of the main space, all of which was folded into the existing programme.
Key Outcomes
- Complete refurbishment delivered in just nine days
- Modern, premium dining environment
- Accommodated additional works without extending the programme
- Multiple trades coordinated under one project team
- Restaurant reopened on schedule
The Result
In just nine days, Asha’s was transformed into a more polished, premium hospitality space ready to welcome guests back through the door. The result is a cohesive, contemporary dining environment that reflects the quality of the food and service Asha's is renowned for, while helping the restaurant continue delivering the premium experience its customers expect.
For restaurants and hospitality venues, where appearance, atmosphere and downtime all matter, coordinating projects as a whole can be critical to achieving the look and feel you want in the shortest time possible.
Lessons from this project
Restaurant refurbishments nearly always uncover hidden issues.
Until finishes are stripped back, it's impossible to know the building's full condition. Allowing contingency within both programme and budget helps prevent unexpected delays later in the project.
Planning is often more important than speed.
Completing this refurbishment in nine days wasn't simply about working longer hours. It depended on the correct sequencing of trades, coordination with suppliers, and quick decision-making as the project evolved.
One contractor can simplify complex refurbishments.
Managing multiple trades through a single project partner helped keep communication clear and ensured additional works could be incorporated without extending the programme.