New UK hotels for Radisson Blu brand
The Radisson Blu Hotel Kingston upon Hull, scheduled to open in late 2016, will feature 168 bedrooms, an all-day dining restaurant, a lobby bar & café, 750m² of meeting space and underground parking.
The hotel is being built as part of Manor Property Group’s Manor Mill development on the shore of the river in the central business district of Hull. Manor Mill will also feature a feature a 23-floor residential tower, student homes, a 5000m² casino, and a plaza with restaurants and bars.
Mark Bailey, hotel development director for Manor Property Group, said: “We are delighted to be working with Rezidor in bringing a Radisson Blu to Hull - an upper upscale hotel is much needed within the city and will make a significant contribution to raising Hull’s hospitality profile.
“The Radisson Blu completes the jigsaw for Manor’s prestigious East Bank multi use development Manor Mill, enabling work to commence shortly.”
The development of the Hull hotel will bring Radisson Blu brand owner Carlson Rezidor’s UK & Ireland portfolio to 51 hotels in operation and under development.
Wolfgang M Neumann, president & chief executive of Rezidor said: “The United Kingdom is a key mature market for us, and we are delighted to bring our core brand Radisson Blu to Kingston upon Hull which will be the UK’s 'City of Culture' in 2017.”
Leicester square development
Meanwhile, Westminster City Council has approved Edwardian group’s plans to build a new hotel and cinema complex in London’s Leicester Square.
The new complex faced opposition from groups including the Greater London Authority and English Heritage because it will require six existing buildings on Leicester Square to be demolished, including the art deco Odeon West End and the historic Hand & Racquet pub.
However, Westminster City Council gave the go ahead to a nine storey design by architecture firm Woods Bagot at the end of last month.
The complex will feature a 60 room hotel, two screen cinema, spa, restaurants, bars and a 500-seat banqueting suite.
“This is a great endorsement for a design which has had to address the complex challenges of a key central London site,” says Jonathan Leah, senior associate at Woods Bagot.
“The new hotel will strengthen Leicester Square’s position as Europe’s flagship ‘Red Carpet’ destination and will help to make this previously underused south west corner of Leicester Square significantly more vibrant.”
The Edwardian group, which re-branded most of its hotels as Radisson Blu Edwardian in 2012 as part of a strategic partnership with Carlson Rezidor, paid a reported £100m for the site. It has not yet been confirmed whether the new Leicester Square hotel will be included under the Radisson Blu brand, or be a stand-alone brand like Edwardian's The May Fair Hotel.
