A plaster company has been recognised for its work on a 20-year project to restore a Grade II-listed hotel where guests once included Winston Churchill and Charlie Chaplin.

Artisan Plastercraft, based in Keston near Biggin Hill, worked on the £45 million refit of the Grand Hotel in Birmingham which originally opened in 1879.

Director Michael Arney said: "This building is one of the best surviving examples of Victorian architecture in Birmingham.

"The ornate period features of the Grand Hotel have been restored, both inside and out, and one of Birmingham’s most loved buildings has opened its doors, once again, as an opulent luxury hotel.

"It has been a lengthy and enjoyable project for us, putting to use our expertise in traditional fibrous and lime plasters free cut lime casting, using traditional tools."

It restored the fibrous plaster – decorative work which takes longer and is more expensive than traditional plaster – suspended ceilings in the Grosvenor Room and balcony and ballroom.

The balcony's ceiling had suffered significant water damage so it had to be secured before it could be replicated.

The company then spent a year reinstating new elevations of decorative mouldings for areas such as picture rails.

Workers also undertook traditional plastering to repair a number of walls and ceilings.

Artisan Plastercraft has now been recognised for its work on the building and has been named the winner of the Heritage Plastering category of the Finishes and Interiors Sector Contractors Awards.

It was also nominated for the Gypsum Trophy Awards for contractors who accomplish impossible feats with world-class materials.

The 185-room hotel has enjoyed an illustrious past, having played host to royalty, the rich and famous.

King George VI, Winston Churchill, Malcolm X, Charlie Chaplin and James Cagney are just a few of the notable guests to have been entertained there.

The restoration and refurbishment project was spearhead by the Starwood Capital Group, a private investment firm which worked with Hortons’ Estate, whose founder Isaac Horton originally built the hotel in the 1870s.