Whitbread is selling the site of its Premier Inn hotel at St James Barton
roundabout in Bristol city centre, England.
The existing 20-storey building, originally built
as an office in 1972 by Avon County Council, could be
replaced with two new contemporary buildings for
co-living housing and student accommodation.
If approved, the plans would also reveal the Grade 1 listed St
James’ Priory currently obscured by the hotel.
Whitbread currently
has four trading hotels in Bristol city centre, including at
Lewins Mead which serves the same catchment area as the old Haymarket
Premier Inn which will remain open for now.
The company says it has made the decision to sell
the site for redevelopment given the age of the building and the
cost of bringing it up to current Premier Inn brand standards.
Despite the sale, Whitbread continues to look for
new Premier Inn locations in the Harbourside and Temple Quarter
areas of Bristol city centre.
“The Premier Inn at Haymarket is at the end of its life.
Though the location is great the current building does not provide
the high brand standards our customers expect of us, and it needs
substantial investment. We also have a much newer Premier Inn at Lewins Mead which is a short walk from
the Haymarket hotel and serves the same catchment,” said Richard
Pearson, Development Manager for Whitbread. “Redeveloping the site presents an opportunity to realise the true potential of the gateway
location for the city, whilst generating funds to reinvest in our
network modern and energy efficient hotels in Bristol and
elsewhere. The sale is part of our strategy of ensuring our hotel
offer is of the highest quality and in the very best locations for
our customers.”
Whitbread’s development partner Olympian
Homes has appointed acclaimed architect Hodder & Partners, which
has won more than 50 national design awards, to create a striking scheme for the prominent 0.3 hectare site.
Two buildings
form the proposed scheme: a 28-storey student accommodation
building with 445 student beds; and an 18-storey co-living
building with 136 bedrooms.
The proposals will include a new
ground floor café which would open onto both the bus/coach station
and the roundabout, helping create an attractive and active public
realm.
It is expected to be a low or zero car parking
scheme, given its city centre location immediately adjacent to
Bristol bus and coach station and 20 per cent of the co-living
homes would be ‘affordable’.
The pedestrian connection
between Bearpit, St James’ Park and the bus and coach station,
currently quite a hostile and unwelcoming route, would also be
made safer and more attractive.
The draft designs are expected to be
unveiled in the coming weeks as part of a community consultation.
