BUSINESS NEWS
Artist ’ s impression of the new Apex City of Bath Hotel
Building Bath ’ s future :
The redevelopment of James Street
Bath ’ s largest hotel is in the making on James Street West , opposite the Green Park Brasserie .
Previously the DHSS building , Kingsmead House was derelict for eight years , before leading UK hotel group Apex Hotels decided to invest in the city . The development is costing £ 35million pounds to complete and is set to create 120 new permanent jobs and at least 20 more part-time positions . Apex secured a £ 29millon funding package from Lloyds Commercial Banking to build the four-star hotel , which will have 177 bedrooms over five floors when it opens in June 2017 . The hotel will also provide Bath ’ s biggest purpose-built conference centre , catering for events of up to 400 delegates . We met with Apex Hotels ’ joint managing director , Yousif Al-Wagga to find out more about the project .
Bath Tourism
Leslie Redwood , Head of Business Development and Partnerships at VisitBath shares his thoughts on working together for the benefit of the city in 2017 and beyond .
Tell us a little about Apex Hotels ... Apex is a family business . Owned 100 per cent by the Springford family . Mum , Dad and their three children . Ian the eldest of the three children is the chair . He also owns an architect firm , ISA . ISA are the sole architect on the project and are responsible for the design and project management of the build .
The middle son , David is a photographer and he shoots bespoke images for all of the properties . Teasing out the individual characteristics of each hotel .
The family first opened hotels in Edinburgh and Dundee followed by their first London hotel in 2005 . The opening of the Apex City of Bath Hotel will bring the total number of properties in the group to ten .
I joined Apex in 2005 to open their first hotel in London , so have experience of opening hotels for the brand .
Why did Apex decide to invest in Bath ? Bath has a lot of synergies culturally and commercially with our Edinburgh hotels . Also , Bath performs well statistically and is a safe investment . Plus , the opportunity to build Bath ’ s largest hotel with purpose-built conference centre doesn ’ t come up very often .
Who ’ s the hotel aimed at ? Midweek business tourism will be a key market for us with our bespoke conference facilities . The hotel will also be marketed to national and international guests . 64 of our bedrooms are perfect for families visiting the city , so we expect them to be extremely popular . All rooms will have a walk-in shower and bath , a Sky box , HDTV and free WIFI . Our premium rooms will also have extra amenities such as Nespresso machines . Some of the fourth floor bedrooms have balconies with views to the south and west of the city .
What facilities will the hotel have ? Aside from the conference centre , the hotel will have a swimming pool , sauna , steam room and gym . The leisure facilities will be open to residents only . We are also building a terraced bar looking out onto James Street West with the restaurant running along the Charles Street side of the hotel .
Will there be any parking ? A planning condition was that the hotel had no parking , but we do have access to a limited number of accessible parking spaces on the site .
Are you enjoying working on the project ? This hotel is a labour of love for me . I was brought up in Batheaston and went to Kingswood School in Bath , so being part of such a huge project that will benefit the city is really exciting .
I ’ m keen to forge strong relationships with the local business community . I ’ ve already formed partnerships with Bath Rugby and Bath Rugby Foundation . Apex is also a member of Business West ’ s Bath Initiative . We ’ ve also welcomed some local firms on to the site for a tour and overview of what the hotel will be like once complete . We have also just signed up to the Bath College apprenticeship scheme investing in the hoteliers of the future . Apex is proud of its culture of nurturing talent and this is reflected in a bespoke apprenticeship scheme that we have introduced in Scotland
For more info : www . apexhotels . co . uk / bath-hotel
As we head towards 2017 and a changing world , I wanted to share a few personal thoughts on Partnership Working in order to benefit the city of Bath and region . Having worked to help set up the Bath BID from 2008 onwards , I now work with the wonderful team at Visit Bath for the benefit of our beautiful World Heritage site city and region .
Bath is a world class visitor destination and seeks to work with the highest quality partners and stakeholders in order to maximise the benefits of the visitor economy . I always work with a multitude of partners to give perfect synergy to this relationship for mutual benefit of us all in this uniquely lovely place .
Partnership working to Visit Bath and me personally is about equality , openness , respect , continuity and above all trust between all partners and stakeholders . It is my firm belief that this is the only way to get things done in our city .
The Bath brand is extremely valuable and vitally important to all of our futures – be that the local authority , businesses , residents or visitors . We all need to work together towards a joint strategic vision of the future for Bath- this will be the foundation that enables us all to add substantial value to the activities we undertake over this time , with shared , mutually beneficial aims and objectives . We should aim to share common goals with a programme of ongoing engagement allowing new ideas , better strategy , and an increase in value and credibility in the activities of us all .
This is my wish for 2017 - A Happy New Year to you all .
For more info : www . visitbath . co . uk
Leslie _ Redwood @ bathtourism . co . uk
THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2016 5