Whitbread has become the latest hospitality group to announce plans for subterranean hotel space in London.
The group has secured planning permission in partnership with Lazari Investments to build a 207-room hub by Premier Inn property within “under-utilised” car parking space under The Brunswick Centre in Bloomsbury.
Whitbread said the hotel’s rooms, reception and communal guest areas would feature “cutting edge lighting technology which provides a natural spectrum of light following the human circadian rhythm”.
The development will see a floor of the existing double-storey basement car park space being lowered to create the necessary floor-to-ceiling heights for the hotel.
Photovoltaic panels will be located on the roof of The Brunswick Centre to help power the hotel, with any additional electricity drawn from the grid expected to be generated from renewable sources.
A scheduled opening date for the hotel has yet to be given, but Whitbread said that work would start later this year.
The Brunswick Centre opened in 1972 and was designed by Patrick Hodgkinson and Sir Leslie Mann. It currently comprises an eight-storey building with residential units above a public shopping centre with a central outdoor plaza.
In November PPHE Hotel Group announced plans to develop a “predominantly subterranean” hotel on Vauxhall Bridge Road close to London Victoria station.
The group operates the existing Park Plaza Victoria London, and has been granted planning approval to convert 6,500 sqm of the property into a new 179-room hotel – the majority of the space being situated underground.
PPHE planning subterranean hotel close to London Victoria station
Meanwhile Zedwell Hotels operates what it says is “London’s first and only underground hotel”, housed with former subterranean car parking space below Great Russell Street and Tottenham Court Road station.
The group recently opened its third ‘windowless’ property in the capital, although Zedwell Greenwich is in fact situated above ground.
Commenting on the news Jonathan Langdon, senior acquisition manager for Whitbread, said:
“Whitbread has been transforming former retail and office buildings into successful Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn hotels for close to twenty years.
“Working closely with Lazari Investments, we have applied this experience and new exciting lighting technology to create a new type of hotel in a superb Central London location.
“The subterranean hotel pushes the hub by Premier Inn brand forward once again and opens a world of opportunity for us in looking at the possibilities of converting unused, underutilised, and hidden spaces into successful budget hotels.”
Whitbread launched its Hub by Premier Inn brand in 2013, with the first hotel opening in Covent Garden in 2014 (for our review from early 2015 click here).
There are now 13 hub by Premier Inn hotels in London and three in Edinburgh, with forthcoming developments including a property at 5 Strand.
The brand recently opened a 294-room property on the corner of Old Marylebone Road and Marylebone Road, close to Edgware Road Underground station.
