Hotelier with grand designs

The Friday Interview:  The G Hotel is hardly located where you would expect to find one of the most adventurous five-star hotels in Ireland, and one designed by an internationally-renowned Irish designer.

However, for property developer Gerry Barrett, the location was the challenge and he feels he has answered some of his critics with the positive international reaction the hotel has received.

"We could have done it in Dublin, Cork or Limerick but, in choosing Galway, we had to look for some angle on it, particularly in the place where we decided to do it," he says.

"One of the criticisms people have is that it is sitting on a roundabout and people's ideas of five-star hotels are rolling hills, golf courses and castles, so we had to get over that. One of the ways of combating that challenge was to find something interesting."

Barrett telephoned London-based designer Philip Treacy, a native of Co Galway, about his vision for the five-star hotel. After an hour-long chat, Barrett says Treacy was hooked, and two years after opening, The G's colourful and quirky designs have attracted many fans and some critics.

Inspiration was partly drawn from the famous Palace of Versailles outside Paris - each of The G's ground-floor reception rooms tries to surpass the next. Barrett says he knew straight away that the hotel could be replicated in a larger hotel group and turned into an exportable brand.

"The dream was, if you could make a success from this, you could expand it. We thought of this early on because when we got an opportunity to purchase Bow Street about three years ago, we grabbed it because the building is so beautiful."

Bow Street - the infamous magistrates' court near Covent Garden in London where Oscar Wilde, Roger Casement, the Guildford Four and General Pinochet were held - is certainly not synonymous with luxurious hospitality but Barrett hopes to turn this past association on its head.

He is in talks with Treacy to bring The G hotel concept to Bow Street, a five-star with 90 bedrooms, and his new five-star hotel in Dublin at Grand Canal Dock that will have 167 bedrooms and 17 suites. Barrett hopes to open in Dublin at the end of next year and in London by Easter 2009. Both will operate under Barrett's Monogram Hotels brand.

He says it will be hard to top The G on design.

"It will be difficult to beat it but we will strive to give the same atmospheric feel. Each building is totally different so they are going to have to be different."

Once complete, the three hotels will have cost Barrett's company, Edward Holdings, €163.5 million - Galway cost €45 million, Dublin €55 million and London €63.5 million (£45 million).

In addition, Barrett has recently spent €50 million on the five-star Ashford Castle in Co Mayo, which he takes possession of in March. He also owns the four-star D hotel in Drogheda.

Like the shopping centres he has built - Scotch Hall in Drogheda and Edward Square in Galway - Barrett says hotels can take up to seven years to bring a return.

"Because Edward Holdings is an investment company, we look first at the property, then at the operation and then at the business.

"In a hotel, you can sell any one of the three and hold the others. That is where hotels can become interesting.

"It will be our ambition to grow the hotel group to an economy of scale that will give us a strong operational and business base with eight to 10 wonderful properties."

Barrett was disappointed not to have received planning for a 90-bedroom hotel at the former Jesuit student residence, Hatch Hall, in Dublin 2.

He could only get permission for 60 bedrooms, which he says is not viable for a hotel, so this week he will lodge a planning application for 36 apartments.

He has heard the rumours about The G closing or about the interior moving to Ashford and says they are unfounded, adding that there are plans to expand The G's events room to cater for up to 250 people.

He is also keen to point out that he has no intention of changing the character of Ashford's 370-acre estate or the hotel itself.

"It is a winning formula - it is something that we are not changing."

Instead he hopes to use the expertise of its existing staff to promote Monogram Hotels. For example, Ashford's general manager Niall Rochford has just been appointed operations director of the hotel group.

When not planning new hotels, Barrett is focusing on developing more shopping centres. He is adding another 150,000 sq ft of retail space at Scotch Hall, bringing the total area to 400,000 sq ft when it is completed in November 2009.

He is also building a major shopping, business and residential scheme on 32 acres in Waterford where, like Waterford Wedgwood and its partner, Sean Mulryan's Ballymore, Barrett has noted a shortage of retail space and the huge development opportunities in the city.

He also believes more retail space is needed in Galway to add to his Edward Square and Eyre Square shopping centres. Barrett is bidding for 14 acres that CIÉ is selling behind Eyre Square. Barrett already owns the Meyrick Hotel (formerly the Great Southern) on Eyre Square.

He sold the Great Southern in Killarney for a quick profit and is seeking a commercial-institutional rezoning for the Great Southern Corrib on the Dublin Road in Galway so the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology next door could expand.

All told, Edward Holdings, the company Barrett set up 12 years ago, has assets worth €250 million. It has been a heady ascent for a man who first started dabbling in property during his long summer vacations away from his teaching job.

For the design-driven Barrett, making money is not the only goal but he aims to build interesting buildings that will still be seen as high profile in 20 or 30 years' time.

"It is to build a balance sheet as best we can and in doing so enjoy it by creating elements that are different. It is about producing quality and good design."

ON THE RECORD:

Name:Gerry Barrett

Age:55

Family:married with two daughters and a son

Home:Galway

Hobbies:supporting Galway rugby club Corinthians

Something that might surprise:he used to teach maths in a secondary school in Kinvara, Co Galway, until he was 35. He says he feels he hasn't worked a day since he stopped teaching

Something you might expect:he couldn't imagine living anywhere but Galway

Favourite hotels:One Aldwych in London and The Carlyle in New York