Harrods is a luxury department store on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London. It was designed by C. W. Stephens for Charles Digby Harrod and opened in 1905; it replaced the first store on the grounds founded by his father Charles Henry Harrod in 1849, which burned down in 1881. The store spans 1,100,000 square feet (100,000 m2) of selling space, making it the largest department store in Europe and one of the largest in the world. Harrods is one of the most famous department stores worldwide, attracting 15 million visitors annually as of 2023. Its building was Grade II* listed on the National Heritage List in 1969.
Following the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed, Mohamed Al-Fayed’s son, two memorials to the couple commissioned by Al-Fayed were erected inside Harrods. The first, located at the base of the Egyptian Escalator, was unveiled on 12 April 1998, consisting of photographs of the two behind a pyramid-shaped display that holds a wine glass smudged with lipstick from Diana’s last dinner as well as what is described as an engagement ring Dodi purchased the day before they died.
For a number of years, PTSG Access & Safety Ltd has been contracted to deliver planned preventative maintenance (PPM) work. This includes the testing and inspection of anchor devices, Christmas decoration fixings, guardrails, handrails and edge protection, ladders and walkways, Mansafe systems, mobile man anchors, rail systems, rope access and anchor points.
