At the Newman Hotel in Fitzrovia, central London, the fit-out team faced a challenge that sits at the difficult end of on-site plasterboard work: 96 rooms, each requiring radiused corner cassettes to form curved corner details, repeated to the same standard across every floor. The solution was a straightforward division of labour — the geometry-dependent elements fabricated offsite, the repetitive straight sections built on site between them.
Innovate at SA supplied the radiused corner cassettes. SMG Contracts built the straight runs in between. Teamwork!
The Problem — A Radius That Cannot Be Built On Site
At 250–300mm, the internal radius on this project spans over 600mm. That is beyond what standard stud work can achieve without specialist intervention, and beyond what kerfed flat board can reliably form as a structural corner in a shower environment.
The project team’s first instinct was a GRG (glass reinforced gypsum) moulded solution — a factory-cast curved unit that arrives ready to fix. GRG works well for curved elements on the dry side. It cannot be used here because the shower-facing surface requires tile backer board for waterproofing. GRG and tile backer are not the same product. The specification ruled it out.
That left the fit-out team with a problem: 96 bathrooms, each requiring 3 to 4 internal radiused corners, in a dual-specification build-up (tile backer to showers, Soundbloc to rooms), to a radius that could not be formed on site. And the tile choice — 50mm × 50mm mosaic — meant any inconsistency in the radius across rooms would show immediately in the tile joint alignment.
This is the point at which offsite fabrication stops being a preference and becomes the only viable route.
The Radiused Corner Cassettes — Construction and Specification
Each cassette was built on a skeleton interlock rib construction — an internal framework that holds the radius accurately and provides the structural integrity the corner needs once installed.
The shower-facing surface is 5.5mm tile backer board, kerfed to allow it to conform to the radius of the rib skeleton without cracking or distorting. Kerfing at this thickness, on a curved rib former, produces a smooth, consistent arc that is tile-ready straight off the production line. No site forming. No trial and error.
The room-facing side is Soundbloc, providing the acoustic performance required by the hotel specification. The cassette therefore delivers two different board specifications — tile backer and acoustic board — in a single prefabricated unit that a dryliner can position and fix without any specialist forming on site.
Build-Up Summary
| Element | Specification |
|---|---|
| Internal frame | Skeleton interlock rib construction |
| Shower face | 5.5mm tile backer board, kerfed and formed to radius |
| Room face | Soundbloc (acoustic board) |
| Radius | 250–300mm internal |
| Ex-factory finish | Board only — no jointing or filling, ready to receive tiles or finish coat |
| Corners per room | 3 to 4 internal corners |
| Total rooms | 96 |
The Tile Accuracy Requirement
The 50mm × 50mm mosaic tile specified for the bathrooms made dimensional accuracy non-negotiable. Mosaic tiles at this size have narrow joints. Any variation in the radius between rooms — even a few millimetres — becomes visible in the tile layout. A cassette that is slightly flatter or tighter than the approved radius will not tile consistently.
This is why we produced and approved a sample cassette before full production began. We checked the sample against the radius specification and signed it off before manufacturing any of the 96-room quantity.
Once we approved the sample, we produced every subsequent cassette to the same rib skeleton, to the same radius, with the same board thickness.
The tiles go on the same way in room 1 as in room 96.
Programme and Delivery
We manufactured and delivered the cassettes in batches of 7 rooms on a 7-day turnaround.
This phased delivery model kept the on-site programme moving without requiring the full 96-room quantity to be stored on a constrained central London floor plate.
The on-site team — SMG Contracts — built the straight Soundbloc and tile backer runs between the cassette positions. Their work was entirely standard drylining: no specialist forming, no curved stud work, no improvisation. The cassettes handled the geometry. The on-site team handled the repetition.
This division of labour is the practical model for hotel fit-out: take the elements that are geometrically impossible or unreliable on site and fabricate them offsite. Leave the elements where on-site productivity is highest — the straight runs — to the site team.
The Ceiling Coffer — The Same Principle on the Dry Side
The same project included a curved ceiling coffer element, built on the same offsite principle: a ply skeleton forming the curve, faced with 6mm GRG board. The GRG board is appropriate here because the coffer is on the dry side — there is no tile backer requirement on a ceiling feature.
Two curved elements, two different board specifications, the same fabrication logic: form the curve offsite where accuracy can be controlled, deliver it ready to fix.
What This Approach Means for Hotel Fit-Out Procurement
The Newman Hotel project illustrates something that is not widely understood in hotel fit-out procurement: offsite fabrication of specific components does not require the whole job to be offsite. It requires only the elements that the site team cannot build accurately, consistently, or at all.
A 250–300mm radiused bathroom corner in a tile-backer specification is a practical example. Nobody in the fit-out industry would seriously attempt to form that curve consistently across 96 rooms using standard stud and board methods. The result would be radius variation, remedial work, and tile alignment problems that appear at the end of the programme when there is no time to fix them.
Specifying an offsite cassette for that specific element — and letting the drylining team work at full productivity on the straight runs — is the rational procurement decision. It is also, in this case, the only procurement decision that produces a result the tiler can work with.
Components We Fabricate for Hotel Fit-Out
If you are specifying or procuring a hotel fit-out project that involves curved, radiused, or geometrically complex elements, the following is what we manufacture:
- Radiused corner cassettes — any internal radius, dual-specification build-ups, kerfed tile backer, acoustic and fire-rated board options
- Curved ceiling coffers — GRG or plasterboard-faced, ply or rib skeleton construction, delivered to site ready to fix
- Deflection head strips — pre-cut to length, eliminating on-site cutting
- Shadow gap profiles — pre-formed for corridor and room junctions
- Column casings — pre-cut, ready to fix around structural steelwork
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you fabricate radiused corner cassettes to a bespoke radius?
Yes. We work to your specified radius. On the Newman Hotel project, the radius was 250–300mm internal — a specification that cannot be formed reliably on site in a tile backer build-up. Send us your drawings and radius specification and we will produce a sample for approval before manufacturing begins.
Why can’t a GRG moulded solution be used in a shower environment?
GRG (glass reinforced gypsum) is suitable for dry-side curved elements — ceiling coffers, feature walls, dry-area corners. It cannot carry a tile backer board specification. Where the shower face must be tile backer, a GRG solution is not viable. The kerfed tile backer cassette was developed specifically to address this limitation.
How accurate are the cassettes?
Accurate enough for 50mm × 50mm mosaic tiling. The sample approval process exists to confirm dimensional accuracy before full production. Once we sign off the sample, we produce every cassette in the batch to the same radius on the same rib skeleton.
What is the lead time?
On the Newman Hotel project, we delivered on a 7-day turnaround in batches of 7 rooms. Lead time depends on quantity and complexity. Contact us with your room count, radius, and programme dates and we will confirm a delivery schedule.
Do the cassettes require specialist installation?
No. The cassettes are positioned and fixed by a standard drylining team. The on-site contractor builds the straight board runs to meet the cassette on either side. No specialist curved stud work is required.
This hotel fit-out shows offsite fabrication solving a specific geometry problem. For the wider picture on why contractors are shifting more of the build off site, see how off-site drylining manufacturing reduces time and cost on UK projects and whether offsite plasterboard preparation can save money on projects.
Get in Touch
If you have a hotel fit-out project involving radiused or curved elements — bathroom corners, ceiling features, or any detail that is giving your site team geometry problems — send us your drawings.
We will confirm whether offsite fabrication is the right route and come back with a specification, sample offer, and lead time.
