Testimonials
Fort Young Hotel, Dominica
ARGO Development Studio is providing Master Planning, Architecture, Interior Design and Management Contracting services to Fort Young Hotel, Dominica.
The master planning design work undertaken by ARGO assisted FYH in setting a strategy for all future development work at the hotel. ARGO used its Building Information Modelling (BIM) software to construct a virtual model of the hotel, including a detailed 3D model of the historic remains of the old fort, which helped my team and I to fully appreciate the challenges and opportunities at hand.
The direction of our brief took an unexpected turn when Hurricane Maria made landfall in Dominica on September the 18th, 2017. ARGO was then asked to turn its attention to all areas damaged by the hurricane and to redesign where opportunities existed in areas such as the pool deck, pool bar, waterfront, new hotel entrance, Warner’s Bar and the Palisades Restaurant. ARGO was also asked to provide Management Contracting services to lead the recovery effort, which saw a successful delivery to a very aggressive timeline.
The largest undertaking to date by ARGO was to rescue, reinvent and redesign the existing restaurant-Palisades. Our vision was to transform this into a destination fine-dining restaurant with an extended external terrace to facilitate 120 seats, an internal restaurant serving 60 seats and a bar with both a private dining option and an open-air, bar lounge offering. The new restaurant design was informed by the rich heritage and culture of Dominica and was to have a sense of place about it. ARGO was also asked to deliver this project through Management Contracting and we are delighted with the result and feel the restaurant was completed to an award-winning standard.
We are continuing to work through the next elements of the masterplan for Fort Young Hotel with ARGO, which includes a new 60-room hotel block, courtyard, reception, and Marquis refurbishment works, along with new conference facilities.
We are excited to continue this journey together with ARGO and are grateful of our partnership.
Marvlyn James, General Manager
Fort Young Hotel
Canada Life Reinsurance, Barbados
In our briefing, we challenged ARGO to deliver a new design for our offices that would promote employee well-being. The board room and office areas were refurbished while also introducing a new lobby and breakroom into the space. The breakroom, which is the focal point of the project, is contemporary and sleek, while incorporating a fun pop of colour, It functions as a separate area to disengage, socialise, relax and eat and doubles as a dedicated space for prepping catered items for times of formal meetings.
ARGO’s use of intelligent 3D Modelling software allowed my team and I to conduct a virtual walk-through of all spaces and sign off on the detailed design before the project ever made it to site which improved project planning, reduced waste and saved on cost.
ARGO’s awareness of international trends in office design, combined with its talented local team proved the right fit for this project.
I highly recommend ARGO for any project which you are undertaking.
Gabriel R. Kelly, Chief Executive Officer
Canada Life Reinsurance
I take great pleasure in recommending Argo Development Studio, based on the fantastic job they did in designing and delivering our new Virgin Atlantic Barbados City Office. Our brief was a tough one to deliver … Create a workspace that would help us cement our values, keep on brand, and of course, we didn’t have a lot of money to spend. It only took one viewing for us to approve Argo’s “Runway” design, which not only brought a modern and functional aesthetic but created a collaborative workspace that was so important to us, having just undergone a staff restructure.
David’s attention to detail in driving down costs was essential, even when he stood his ground on the placement of our staff bathroom, against our original brief. The staff will never know how close they came to a much smaller kitchen. I learnt quickly to respect his deep knowledge of international design trends, and how we could leverage his tested insights for our project.
Andre Bello, Head of Caribbean Commercial Operations
Virgin Atlantic Airways
Marriott Hotel in Port Au Prince, Haiti
Digicel has engaged Argo on a number of projects over the last 3 years. These projects include a new Mariott Hotel in Port Au Prince, Haiti, which was delivered on budget to programme and to a very high standard. Argo policed and safeguarded all legislative requirements including, Earthquake rating, Hurricane rating, the stringent Mariott Standards and International Building Code. The hotel won an award for the ‘Best New Hotel in the Americas’ at the International Property Awards.
Barry O’Brien, Group Director
Digicel
Digicel Group
Leading Digicel’s facilities upgrade work in a number of territories, Argo recently demonstrated its efficient expertise in creating a vision for an experienced store for our new brand – ‘Digicel Play’, after only 2 weeks from the initial briefing. The submission included a visual walkthrough of the experience store to ensure the brief was satisfied. We have recently engaged Argo to design an IT Facilities Building and Data Centre at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad. Argo was chosen as lead consultant for this project for a number of reasons, not least for its use of the latest design software – BIM (Building Information Modelling), which allows Digicel to deliver a project which will be compliant with international standards, efficient through the delivery process and plug into the BMS for Facility Management purposes post completion.
We have found Argo to be extremely professional and reliable. Argo’s service has been exemplary, their staff professional, and their attention to detail refreshing.
I have no hesitation in recommending Argo for the design, development or delivery of construction projects.
Barry O’Brien, Group Director
Digicel
Ozone Wireless, Barbados
Argo Development Studio provided Architectural Design and Project Management Services for the design and delivery of our new office headquarters and flag ship retail experience store in Barbados. Argo’s use of intelligent 3D Digital Modelling streamlined the design process and brought certainty to budget and programme early on in the process. Argo brought the project in on budget through a very thorough, well considered Value Engineering strategy.
Argo’s attention to detail and stubborn determination to deliver quality in every detail is commendable. David worked closely with my team and I to safeguard our projects journey, from concept to completion and demonstrated a level of professionalism that has heavily influenced the successful outcome of the project, which has been realized true to the concept.
One of the reasons Argo was selected from a competitive consultancy tendering process was for its approach to design which my team and I found refreshing and very much on trend internationally.
Pierre McMaster, CEO
Ozone Wireless (Barbados) Inc.