Impressive Dining and Night Venue Designed for Exceptional Food and Drinks

This week’s instalment of the Project of the Week series features a dining and late-night venue design by 2022 SBID Awards Finalist, Novo Design.

We were brought in as the design team to assist with the delivery of Inca, an exotic dining and late-night venue situated under the London Palladium at Oxford Circus. The turnaround on the project was unheard of for its scale but the project manager knew we were the right team to do this and would be able deliver an outstanding design under challenging time scales. And that we did. We worked through the specification process pragmatically with the client prioritising the longest lead items and bit by bit, and lots of late nights and specification meetings later we started on site with 90% of the design information signed off. The last elements were worked out easily as a team on site. After 16 weeks of possibly the most intense project we have ever worked on the final results were outstanding and it was credit to the client for putting their trust in us and being decisive with decisions and sign off, the contractor for working tirelessly through the build and offering pragmatic solutions to problems if they occurred whilst on site and a fantastic project and cost manager for keeping it all ticking and making sure everyone was where they should be.

What was the client’s brief? 

To create a high end, premium environment to act as a backdrop to world class Latin America shows and performance and an exceptional food and drink offer.

What inspired the design of the project?

A journey through Latin America. Colours, textures, landmarks and environment were all huge factors that inspired the design decisions.

What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project?

Lead time, covid and Brexit. We were briefed in July and delivered the project at the end of October. We didn’t have the usual lead in to organically develop the design it had to be done on the fly so there were lots of intense meetings making decisions quickly to ensure contractors had information ahead of starting on site. Limited to selecting UK stocked items/materials as we didn’t have time for European transit times which was limiting and more challenging to create such a high-end premium feel with limited options.

What was your team’s highlight of the project?

Going to the launch event. It was amazing delivering such a unique design, but it really comes to life when the space is full of people, the performers are on stage and the food and drinks are theatrically delivered to your table. A dining experience like no other.

Why did you enter this project into the SBID Awards?

This was such an intense project due to the timing and tight turn around. The team were working on drawings and details until the early hours of the morning regularly and then heading to site the next day, they put so much into the project to ensure it was delivered perfectly and it would be great if they could get some recognition for the time and effort put in.

Questions answered by Abbie Smith, Founder and Creative Director, Novo Design.