The World of Hospitality Issue 15 2016 | Page 26

26 the World Of Hospitality principal hayley hotels Hotel And Leisure Group To Create Luxury Landmark Hotel After Acquisition Of Historic Liverpool Bank Building ONE of the UK’s finest neo-classical building is planned to be transformed into a stunning 227-room luxury hotel. Liverpool’s historic Martins Bank building, designed and built by Herbert James Rowse in 1932, has been acquired by leading hotel and conference centre provider Principal Hayley Group. The company is to convert the Grade II-listed property on Water Street into a stunning, luxury hotel with a spa, bar and fine dining restaurant. Work will start on the project this year with a potential opening in late 2017 or early 2018. The hotel will be the city’s first ever potential 5 Star luxury offering. Joe Anderson OBE, Mayor of Liverpool, said the scheme would be a landmark development for the city and was a signal of its growing reputation as a global tourist destination and as a centre for exhibitions and conventions. Tony Troy, CEO of the Principal Hayley Group, said the acquisition gave them an important presence in the heart of Liverpool, where there was clear demand for a full service luxury hotel. Mr Troy said it was the city’s recent renaissance and its record in attracting business and leisure visitors which was making their investment possible and they were pleased to be working with a number of key city departments on the project. Castlewood Securities, which has owned the Martin’s Bank building for 20 years, has been acquired by Principal Hayley Group Hotels in the deal. Castlewood has obtained full planning and Listed Building consent for the proposed development. The development represents an investment commitment to Liverpool of nearly £50m. It will lead to the creation of over 200 long term jobs and about 350 construction jobs over the next two years. The acquisition follows a wider £100m strategic repositioning of Principal Hayley Group’s iconic city-centre properties. The Royal York Hotel in York and The George Hotel in Edinburgh have both recently reopened following extensive renovations that honoured the histories of the two properties while adding state-of-the-art amenities. An additional multi-million-pound investment is planned for Principal Hayley Group’s manor-house conference properties in 2016.